Putin orders building of North Pole ice base
The Artur Chilingarov Ice Base will be located on an ice floe and house researchers and tourists who are ready to pay a minimum of €40,000 for a five-day visit.
The decree signed by the Russian dictator on December 15 orders the government to participate in the establishment of a North Pole base.
The base is to be developed in cooperation with the Russian Geographical Society and the Academy of Science. The decree follows Putin's participation in the Geographical Society's congress in October this year.
Russia has a long tradition of organising research expeditions on drifting Arctic ice. However, it has become increasingly difficult to find ice floes solid enough to hold the research stations. The last “real” ice station, the “North Pole-40”, was established in October 2012, and had to be evacuated in May 2013, because the ice floe the base was placed on, started to break apart.
For many years, a group of Russian businesspeople also organised the Barneo Ice Camp. The camp has been built near the North Pole. Because of the unstable ice conditions, the last Barneo camp was held in 2018. Nevertheless, the organisers say that they intend to set up the camp in 2026.
It is not clear whether the Artur Chilingarov Ice Base will interact with the Barneo Camp. It is also an open question whether it will be possible at all to build the camp because of the vanishing sea ice.
According to the Artur Chilingarov Ice Base website, five-day visits cost a minimum of 3,7 million rubles (€40,000). All visits are due to take place in April 2026.
Artur Chilingarov was a famous Soviet-Russian explorer who died in 2024.
Putin's participation at this year's congress of the Russian Geographical Society showed a major level of Kremlin support to the expansionist efforts of the Society.
During the congress, prominent members of the Russian elite discussed initiatives aimed at the Arctic, as well as the occupied parts of Ukraine.
In his address, the Russian dictator highlighted the role of the Geographical Society in territorial issues and said that 2027 would be declared the 'year of geography.'
“Given the contribution made by our geographers throughout history to strengthening the state and the paramount importance of geographical science, I ask the government to consider declaring 2027 the Year of Geography,” the Russian ruler said.
"This is important for us from a political point of view,” he explained, and emphasized that "the main event of the year will be consolidation of maps — new maps — of the Russian Federation.”
