Putin opened the wintering complex of the Vostok station in Antarctica

On January 28, Russian President Vladimir Putin, via video link, took part in the ceremony of putting into trial operation the wintering complex of the Vostok station in Antarctica, the Kremlin reported.

The Vostok station was founded in 1957. It is located on the ice dome of Antarctica at an altitude of 3,500 m. The new wintering complex, as noted in the Kremlin, is a modular structure of five blocks with an area of ​​more than 3,000 square meters. m, designed to comfortably accommodate up to 15 people during the winter period and up to 35 people during the season. The creation of a wintering complex for the station was completed in 2020.

 

At the ceremony, Putin thanked everyone involved in the creation of the complex and called this project the most difficult. It was necessary to develop unique technologies and engineering solutions for it, the president emphasized.

“All the equipment - heating, ventilation - is all Russian-made,” Putin said.

The project for a new wintering complex at the Vostok station was presented in 2019 by the Chairman of the Board of Novatek , Leonid Mikhelson, at a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Geographical Society . The company, as Putin recalled, invested several billion rubles in the project and completely transferred it to the state.

“I know that for 2025-2027. “several billion are required to continue work,” the president added, clarifying that the government’s decision on this issue has not yet been made.

Since the station opened in 1957, it has experienced two reconstructions during the Soviet era and three conservations, according to the website of the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI).

The first buildings, as noted, have long been under a thick layer of snow, and more modern ones are partially or completely immersed in snow to a depth of 5 m. The station’s infrastructure needs to be completely replaced, which is why the project for the construction of a new wintering complex is being implemented, the institute reported. The control assembly of the wintering complex was completed in Gatchina at the Experimental Plant of Building Structures on August 27, 2020.

The opening ceremony of the complex is also attended by President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko, who arrived in Russia on an official visit the day before, on January 27.