Putin and the polar bear on Franz Josef Land

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited the Franz Josef Land archipelago, where an expedition from the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution are carrying out research on the polar bear population. Together with the scientists, the prime minister fitted a satellite collar on a bear and after that shook the paw with the “master of the Arctic.”

The bear was caught in a special trap. By the time the prime minister arrived, the Arctic’s strongest beast was sleeping peacefully – scientists drugged the bear so it could be approached safely.

Putin helped the scientists to measure the bear from nose to tail.

Then the animal was put on a scale – the bear, which was rather hungry by the spring, weighed in at 231 kilograms (510 pounds).

During these manipulations, the prime minister patted the bear and tenderly teased its ear, trying to calm it down.

The scientists told the prime minister that the experiment marked the first time satellite tracking had been used in Russia to observe the bears. The project is funded by the Russian Geographic Society and should help efforts to preserve and restore the polar bear population.

According to the scientists, there are some 6,000 polar bears in the Russian part of the Arctic, against a global total of 25,000.

The prime minister arrived on Alexandra Land, part of the Franz Josef Land archipelago, on an An-72 aircraft, which needs just 100 meters to land.

Putin then traveled to the base of the expedition from the Institute of Ecology and Evolution in a Taiga off-road vehicle.

The scientists’ base is located near the Nagurskaya frontier post.

This is not Putin’s first expedition with scientists from the institute - in September 2008, he put a similar satellite collar on an Amur tiger, and in July last year the prime minister went to the Chkalov Island in the Khabarovsk Territory, where scientists were studying the white whales' migration patterns.