ST. PETERSBURG (Sputnik) — The official underscored that it was necessarily to work on the infrastructure — not only to protect Russian borders, bot also to prevent ecological disasters and ensure the safety of civil navigation in the Arcic waters.
"No [there are no such plans]…. There has been a lot of fuss about the militarization of the Arctic with Russia's involvement, but our colleagues forget that the infrastructure that used to exist during the Soviet times had been absolutely lost. We are not building anything up, we are reconstructing the infrastructure that we need," Lukyanov told RIA Novosti on the sidelines of the SPIEF international economic forum in St. Petersburg.
The agenda for SPIEF 2016, which is held at a new venue for the first time in 20 years — at the Expoforum Convention and Exhibition Centre — includes business forums of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRICS, and the Business 20.