Moscow  – On October 3, on the first day of the 1st All-Russian Maritime Congress, a cooperation agreement was signed between ROSATOM and the Marine Research Center of Lomonosov Moscow State University.

The document was signed by Vladimir Panov, Special Representative for the Development of the Arctic, on behalf of ROSATOM, and Dmitry Korost, Director General, on behalf of the MSU Marine Research Center.

The cooperation agreement was concluded with the aim of continuing comprehensive research and monitoring of above-water and underwater environmental safety in the waters of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation in 2022-2023.

“Thanks to the efforts of the Marine Research Center of Lomonosov Moscow State University and the international expert community, in 2021-2022 it was possible to carry out unique comprehensive studies at 50 monitoring stations in the waters of the NSR (Northern Sea Route). The key conclusion that can be drawn based on the results of the work is that commercial shipping currently has no significant impact on marine ecosystems in the Arctic. The ongoing research of this year is designed to form a comprehensive program of environmental monitoring of the NSR, which, as we expect, will form the basis of a separate subsystem of national environmental monitoring,” Vladimir Panov said.

“This year we continue working on identifying and closing gaps in the study of marine ecosystems, assessing the impact of shipping on them, we will develop digital services that will allow us to learn about the environmental situation in the Arctic in real time. Besides, field work continues in the waters of the NSR – an expedition stage of activities is now being implemented in the Eastern Arctic,” Dmitry Korost noted.