OREANDA-NEWS. April 20, 2012. Transcript of the beginning of the meeting: Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, friends.

I would like to personally greet you and congratulate you on your success. You have reached this ancient lake. It took you many years, maybe, even decades, as far as I know, to complete this work.

Remark: Just over 20 years.

Vladimir Putin: Yes, 20 years. You have accomplished a tremendous amount of work, and you have scored a major success. I know that representatives of various agencies are present here. Yury Trutnev, Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, told me that the drilling manager kept working even during his vacation.

Nikolai Vasilyev (Head, Well Drilling Department at the St. Petersburg State Mining Institute): Well, yes, I had to take an unpaid leave in order to join the expedition legally.

Vladimir Putin: This is rather strange. I’ll talk to Vladimir Litvinenko, Rector of the St. Petersburg State Mining Institute, and encourage him to support this.

Nikolai Vasilyev: Well, he supports it.

Vladimir Putin: He told you to take a vacation. How is he supporting you if he tells you to take a vacation? He should have paid you for this trip. But he tells you to take a vacation instead.

Nikolai Vasilyev: The law forbids this.

Vladimir Putin: How so?

Nikolai Vasilyev: There are some difficulties. It’s not possible to receive wages from two companies. There are certain problems.

Vladimir Putin: You have baffled me. Anyway, I would like to congratulate you and to wish you future success. We have seven stations, right?

Reply: Five operational stations and five seasonal field bases, Mr Putin.

Vladimir Putin: This makes ten facilities. Five and five equals ten facilities. And how many people work there?

Reply: Under the government’s resolution, there are 120 seasonal workers, and 110 people stay through the winter. This does not include the crews of ships and aircraft.

Vladimir Putin: We are now commissioning a ship ...

Remark: The Akademik Fyodorov now operates in the Antarctica.

Vladimir Putin: And new vessels show up.

Remark: Yes, we plan to commission the research vessel Akademik Teryoshnikov this year.

Remark: The ship is to sail to the Antarctica during this expedition.

Vladimir Putin: We are making certain headway here, but I know that there are some problems. I would like to discuss the problems that you face and the specific decisions that you expect from the government. Maybe Valery Lukin will take the floor?

Valery Lukin (Head of the 56th Russian Antarctic Expedition): Thank you. I would like to start with a pleasant event.

Indeed, an outstanding event in the sphere of international Antarctic research took place on February 5. Russian specialists were the first to drill vertically through the entire Antarctic glacier and to penetrate the sub-glacier Lake Vostok. This amazing event attracted great attention.

At present, 28 countries are active in the Antarctica. Virtually all of the national projects focus on scientific research. These projects are implemented on a varying scale based on the various scientific and technical potential of each country.

Russia’s federal targeted programme, “World Ocean,” sets forth various scientific objectives. This programme has been active since 1998 and is scheduled to be completed in 2013. Consequently, we consider it very important to either extend this programme or to adopt some other document, which would become the programme’s legal successor. Various federal agencies, whose representatives are involved in the Antarctic expedition and who conduct Antarctic-related research at their respective laboratories, institutes and universities, could pool their efforts under this programme.