Governmental Commission, Far-Eastern Low-Cost Carrier, and Nuclear Submarine

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has established a governmental commission to address the consequences of the wildfires that had stricken the forests and tundra of the Arctic and Far-Eastern regions of Russia. The new body, which will coordinate the reconstruction effort by federal, regional and local authorities and other institutions concerned, will be chaired by Vice-Premier for the Far East and Arctic Yuri Trutnev.

On 26 July, the first government-subsidized flights of United Far Eastern Airlines started. The company was launched to offer affordable transportation services in the sparsely populated areas of the Russian Arctic and Far East and connect remote communities to each other and the rest of Russia. This year, the government will spend about 1.6 billion rubles (USD 22 million) in subsidies to United Far Eastern Airlines to maintain low ticket prices.

The first Russia’s nuclear-powered submarine, Leninsky Komsomol (K-3), which predated the November-class submarines, will become part of the exhibit at the Naval Glory Museum in Kronstadt. Previously deployed in the Arctic, it was supposed to be scrapped upon decommissioning from the Northern Fleet back in 1988; however, at some point, naval authorities decided to preserve the historic sub. It is currently undergoing repairs at the Zvezdockha shipyard in the Arctic city of Severomorsk. In the near future, the K-3 submarine will be towed from the Barents Sea via the White Sea and the inner waterways to St. Petersburg and then to Kronstadt, its final destination. At the museum site, the K-3 will be re-equipped, its inner rooms will be restored, and a glass dome will be built over the submarine before it will be open to visitors.