Full Steam Ahead! Russian Ship to Resume Kuril Voyages

The Russian ice-class passenger ship Polaris will resume voyages to the Kuril Islands, according to the press service of the regional government.

The press service of the Sakhalin region's government has reported that the Russian ice-class passenger ship Polaris will soon resume voyages to the Kuril Islands.

The announcement was released with reference to Transport and Public Roads Minister of the Sakhalin Region Vladimir Degtyarev.

"We expect that in the near future, an expert report confirming the ice class of the vessel and allowing it to conduct autonomous navigation in any part of the World's Oceans for 20 days, will be signed and the ship will go back to Sakhalin," the press service said.

It added that on May 14, the vessel is expected to start its voyage to the Kuril Islands, with tickets already available for passengers.

In October 2013, the ship Igor Farkhutdinov, the only vessel carrying passengers between Sakhalin Island and the Kurils, was sent for damage repairs.

In this connection, local authorities allocated 140 million rubles from the regional budged for the purchase of the passenger ice-class ship Polaris.