Russians help Indian researchers to set up Antarctic station.

MURMANSK, January 23 (Itar-Tass) -- The crews of the ship Ivan Papanin
and the icebreaker Vladimir Ignatyuk of the Murmask sea ship line
participated in an expedition to set up an Indian scientific station in
Antarctica and successfully carried out their task -- equipment and
materials needed for the scientific complex were delivered to the
destination in time, a company administration source told Itar-Tass on
Saturday.
The Indian government in the letter addressed to the Murmansk company
noted that the Russian sailors' operation was well coordinated and
expressed sincere gratitude for the help to create a new polar station on
the ice continent.
It is the third Indian polar scientific station in Antarctica. It is
built in the area of the Larsemann Hills near the Indian gulf.





.Equipment, fuel, food delivered to Vostok Antarctc station at pole.




ST. PETERSBURG, January 23 (Itar-Tass) -- A sled and tracked convoy in
Antarctica has delivered fuel and food products from the coast to the
researchers of the Vostok station near the geomagnetic South Pole, deputy
chief manager of the Russian Antarctic expedition Vyacheslav Martyanov
from the Arctic and Antarctic Scientific Research Institute told Itar-Tass
on Saturday.
The convoy left the Progress coastal station late last year.
It delivered three Kassbohrer PistenBully Polar-300 transport
vehicles, which were bought by the expedition from a German tractor making
company, and also diesel fuel, food products and equipment and materials
for research work.
The cargo convoy after technical service in short time started out for
the route of more than 1,000 kilometres back to the Antarctic coast.
Researchers at the Vostok station continue the extremely-deep well
drilling operation over the under-ice relic lake. The well has reached a
depth of 3,645 metres, and some tens of metres are left to the reservoir
surface, the scientist said.
The Russian polar explorers also prepare vehicles and equipment for a
research expedition from the station to the Antarctic coast.




.Ship in distress in Sea of Okhotsk drifts near ice edge.





VLADIVOSTOK, January 24 (Itar-Tass) -- The ice-covered transport
refrigerator Smolninsky reached an ice edge in the Sea of Okhotsk on
Sunday.
The ship in distress has a 25-degree list to the left side.
Overcoming the severe weather conditions, it has reached the ice edge
area where it will drift. The sea rescue vessel Spravedlivy is expected to
come there later on Sunday.
The supplier vessel Smit Sibu belonging to the Sakhalin Energy company
for a third day ensures safety of the Smolninsky, an officer on duty at
the Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk sea rescue coordinating centre, Nikolai Ivanov, said.
Aboard the Smolninsky are 20 crewmembers and 1,500 tonnes of fish. The
crew tries to straighten the listing vessel and break the ice cover.
A Mi-8 helicopter took eleven passengers from the ship and airlifted
them to the Sakhalin city of Nogliki on Saturday. According to the
preliminary information, the people are fishermen rescued from other
vessels who returned to the Primorsky territory.
The refrigerator got in the distress situation on January 22 when it
carried a cargo of fish from a fishing area. A severe storm, frost of up
to 20 degrees and waves caused icing of the Smolninsky. It listed and was
in danger of sinking. The ship is from the port of Nakhodka. Its length is
85 metres. It can carry 2.483 tonnes of cargoes. On December 22, 2009, the
ship left Vladivostok for South Korea.





.Shaimiyev says he will support new Tatar president.





KAZAN, January 24 (Itar-Tass) -- Tatarstan's President Mintimer
Shaimiyev notes that his resignation from the post is voluntary and that
he intends to support the republic's new head.
Shaimiyev told reporters on Saturday that during his meeting with
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow the day before he asked the
president not to consider his candidacy for the post of head of the
republic after his tenure expired on March 25, 2010.
"The issue is decided for me," the current Tatar leader noted.
He said he would in every form support the republic's new president
and the traditions he shared to strengthen the republic. It is important
to value creative processes and inter-religious and inter-ethnic peace in
the republic, he noted.
Seventy-three-year-old Shaimiyev also said that he did not plan to go
to Moscow at his age. "My position is that one fits where the one was
born. It is the state of my soul."
The Tatar leader noted he had a great wish to restore the Bulgarian
museum reserve where Islam was adopted in 922 and the 16-century
Sviyazhsky monastery. He said he had told the country's leaders and the
Russian finance minister about the projects and received consent for
reconstruction with the federal support on the parity basis.
Shaimiyev has been head of Tatarstan since 1991.
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