ИСТИНА

The Arctic area of the Russian Federation is a region of a huge potential source of natural resources (oil, gas, minerals). It occupies about one-fifth of the Russian territory located north of the Arctic Circle. The current development of the Russian Arctic is aimed to the intensive use of its natural resources as the strategic priority for Russia's social and economic development. Due to the continuous permafrost the environment of the Arctic region is extremely vulnerable to anthropogenic impact and very slowly restored. The regular observations of the National monitoring network allow to control the current state and pollution of the Arctic environment which is especially important in the context of increasing anthropogenic impact on the region. In the Russian Arctic the main sources of environmental pollution are gas and oil industry, mining and mineral processing, the largest enterprises of nonferrous metallurgy, fuel and energy production, chemical industry, pulp and paper mills as well as road, rail and sea transport. Nevertheless, all sources of environmental pollution are located at a significant distance apart which leads to isolating polluted area near its source.