Authorities and Supreme Court forced the Udegeis to return to the woods.

Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev yesterday visited the Sevmash Shipyard in Severodvinsk, where he inspected construction of Russia’s new state-of-the-art nuclear submarines.

Oil company Shell and Sovcomflot, which is Russia’s main shipping group, are embarking on a partnership with the hopes of being the forerunner when it comes to shipping liquefied natural gas through the Arctic waters. The two companies have also struck a deal where Shell will charter Sovcomflot’s aframaz oil tankers.

Murmansk Airport handled 25,4 percent less passengers in the five first months of the year than in the same period last year.

Sovkomflot and Shell are entering a partnership agreement to be prepared for the huge potential for LNG-shipping from the Arctic.

Governor Dmitry Dmitriyenko has been appointed member of the Russian Government’s commission on development of fisheries.

Some Canadian botanists will be going on a month long trip in an isolated corner of the Canadian North in order to gather more than 1,000 plant samples. The hope is that by gathering these plant samples, they will be able to track some of the impacts of climate change happening in the area.

Satellite monitoring shows no signs of pollution in the White Sea, while the Gulf of Finland is heavily polluted by the shipping business.

The first transmission of a seal-killing virus that started in the Atlantic Ocean has been documented in a population of Pacific sea otters in Alaska. The transmission of the disease from the Atlantic Ocean to Pacific Sea is the first sign that melting Arctic ice not only affects the habitat of Arctic animals, like polar bears and seals, but also makes it easier for pathogens to travel into the area and into the Arctic wildlife.

In 2009 Russia will utilise nine of its older nuclear powered submarines.