MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator...
Nobody seems to remember that 75 years ago the ice-breaker Alexander Sibiryakov made a legendary journey along Russia's Northern Sea Route, which connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. He was the first to get from Arkhangelsk, on the White Sea in European Russia, to Yokohama, Japan in one go. This was the start of the active exploration of the Arctic.
The mission of the Soviet polar expeditions was to confirm our sovereignty over the Arctic North. Otto Schmidt led one of the first and many of the subsequent Arctic expeditions. In 1929-1930 he went to Franz Joseph Land and Severnaya Zemlya (Northern Land). Later, the Alexander Sibiryakov barely made it to the Bering Strait, and the Chelyuskin saga followed a year after. The latter was a heroic, albeit abortive, attempt to follow the same route using an ordinary ship. The Arctic offensive reached its peak with the planting of the red flag in the North Pole and the setting up of the first drifting station there.