The 22nd of February in the Moscow HeadQuarters of the Russian Geographical Society there was open the «Blessen North» conference, organized within the frames of the XXVI International Christmas Readings.
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International Christmas Educational Readings is a large-scale church and public forum in the field of education, culture, social service and spiritual and moral education, first held in Moscow in 1993. The theme of XXVI readings is the following: «Moral values and the future of mankind».
During the meeting, the participants are discussing the actual problems of the Russian North from the point of view of spiritual vision, the mission of Russian Orthodoxy, the role of the Arctic region in Russia's life, as well as environmental problems and conditions for preserving the wild nature of high latitudes.
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The conference was opened by the ruling bishop of the northernmost diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church Bishop Naryan-Marsky and Mezensky Iakov. He told about modern expedition projects in the Arctic.
«This summer and autumn, with God's help, five expeditions were made: one of them is near the Arctic, this is the northern land of Pomorie, and the other four are Arctic and, in my opinion, truly remarkable. During these expeditions the island was named, which was formerly nameless - it was called «Patriarchal». A hillock on the island of the Southern Archipelago New Earth also received the name of «Patriarchal» - said Bishop Iakov.
Scientists, businessmen and public figures also presented their reports at the conference.
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Thus, Irina Socratova, Deputy Head of the Earth Sciences Department of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences, told about the history of the discovery and exploration of the Severnaya Zemlya Archipelago. Director of the Institute of Geology of Ore Deposits, Petrography, Mineralogy and Geochemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences Konstantin Lobanov made a report on Russian Arctic expeditions of the times of MV. Lomonosov Moscow State University.
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The subject of Arctic clearing was raised by the representative of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, Colonel Andrei Zhilyakov. Actual issues of development of the Arctic regions were discussed with the attendees by Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Vasily Bogoyavlensky. General Director of the «First Mining Company» Alexander Lukin, in turn, touched upon the study of polymetallic ores in the Arctic archipelagoes.
«There are a lot of minerals in the Arctic, no doubt, the entire Mendeleyev table is presented here, for many minerals, ores, this is practically our main deposit», - Vasily Bogoyavlensky noted.
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The participants of the conference learned about the Russian ice drifting stations from the speech of the vice-president of the Association of Polar Explorers Konstantin Zaitsev, and the topic of the report of the deserved test pilot Konstantin Malinin was the use of heavy unmanned aerial vehicles in the Arctic.
The second day of the Conference will be held on the 23rd of January.