“The ‘Admiral Vladimirsky’ oceanographic ship is expected to get a group of Russian scientists and travellers to the Antarctica in 2015, which will become the first Antarctic expedition of Russian citizens in 30 years. The ship is currently being prepared for the long mission at a St. Petersburg shipyard.

      The ‘Admiral Vladimirsky’ last sailed to the Antarctic coast in 1982, together with the ‘Faddey Bellinsgauzen’ oceanographic research vessel. The new expedition is organized by the Russian Navy and supported by the Russia's Defense Ministry.

      The members of the expedition will carry out a series of hydrographic measurements to update the existing navigation charts and manuals, and will also test systems of radio navigation to ensure safe shipping in Antarctic waters.

      In January 2015, the  ‘Admiral Vladimirsky’ oceanographic ship successfully ended the first circumnavigation of the Russian Navy in 30 years, which had begun in August 2014. That time the ship went through the Bering Strait, the Panama Canal, the English Channel and then returned to the Baltic in order to finish the mission in Kronshtadt.