Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday promised a spring cleanup of industrial and toxic waste in the Arctic region, including barrels of lubricants, the state news agency Itar-Tass reported.
The toxic waste is in an area of approximately 100 hectares, or about one million square meters. Scientists estimated that that up to 250,000 barrels of 40,000 to 60,000 tons of lubricants and fuels were piled up in the Arctic region, the report noted, along with empty barrels, planes, cars, radar stations, and other debris after the fall of the Soviet Union and the reduction of military activity in the area.
The level of pollution exceeds acceptable standards [by] six times, Putin stated.
The Russian prime minister visited the Franz Joseph Land archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, taking part in a scientific expedition by the Moscow-based Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Sciences. Putin inspected rows of discarded barrels that were frozen into the bays northern shore, the news agency said.