Konyukhov’s Mission, Cable Plant, and Road for Arkhangelsk

Yesterday, 2 August, Russian explorer and survivalist Fyodor Konyukhov returned to Murmansk onboard the 50 Years of Victory nuclear-powered icebreaker from his one-man mission to the North Pole. The traveler spent 245 hours on pack ice where he has camped to gather data on microplastic pollution of, and seismic activity in, the Arctic Ocean.

A new cable manufacturing plant was launched in Murmansk. Its primary task is to produce 12,650 kilometers of 6-strand fiber-optic cable for Polar Express, the transarctic submarine line to connect the Western part of the Russian Arctic (Murmansk) with the country’s Far East (Vladivostok). Polar Express will provide reliable access to telecommunication services in the Russian Arctic, including remote off-grid communities.

According to the authorities of the Arkhangelsk Oblast, the latter has received a tranche of 300 million rubles (USD 4 million) as funding provided by the federal budget for the reconstruction of regional roads. The sum will cover the cost of constructing a 16-kilometer road connecting the village of Rikasikha and the village of Kianda in this Arctic region.