The Russian prime minister has signed a decree on measures for preservation and development of the Solovetsky Islands.

      The list of events to be undertaken includes "modernization of engineering, housing-and-municipal and social infrastructure, as well as measures for preservation and development of cultural and natural heritage of the Solovetsky islands", the explanatory note to the document reads.

      The Solovetsky Archipelago was included into the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1992.

      The Solovetsky Archipelago (aka Solovki) located in the White Sea near Karelia and Arkhangelsk sealand comprises about 100 islands. It gained fame with the Orthodox Christian monastery founded there in the middle of the 15th century. The Solovki Islands harbour more than 400 historical and cultural monuments of federal value. Permanent population of the archipelago makes about one thousand people.