The Russian government has granted energy giant Gazprom new exploration areas in the Tazov Bay, a part of the Kara Sea.

Russia's prime minister, Vladimir Putin, has dismissed claims that the Arctic is a new strategic battleground and called on the world's five Arctic powers to resolve their rival territorial claims according to international law.

World's leading experts on the Arctic and prominent politicians will gather on Wednesday in the Russian capital to discuss the political, economic and environmental issues affecting the Arctic region.

Russia will compile a new integrated atlas of the Arctic, says Minister for Emergencies Situations and Head of the Russian Geographic Society Sergey Shoygu.

Russia is satisfied with the way the International Polar Year was completed and now proposes the launch of an International Polar Decade, Putin said in a speech Thursday.

The price of the Arctic question is much higher than the billions of barrels of oil or gas which we can produce in the area, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in a conference speech in Moscow today. All questions about the Arctic can be solved in the spirit of partnership, he stressed.

A pan-Arctic agreement on search and rescue cooperation at sea and in air is to be signed in 2011, a high-ranking Russian official confirms.

ARKHANGELSK: Russian and Norwegian interests met in Arkhangelsk last week to discuss a new project aimed at a fast improvement of conditions for logistics and transport in Arctic areas.

President Dmitry Medvedev is dissatisfied with the Russian Foreign Ministry and has decided to establish an International Affairs Council, which is to become an alternative platform for policy discussions.

The Ninth Conference of Parliamentarians of the Arctic Region meeting in the European Parliament, Brussels 13. -15. September 2010 adopted on Wednesday a Conference Statement which gives support to the EU Arctic Information Centre in northern Finland.