Russia may abandon its polar drifting scientific stations in the Arctic region within five years and build a special permanent platform for replacement, the Interfax news agency reported on Friday.
The final decision on the replacement has not been made yet, but the idea "is being discussed actively," head of high-latitude expedition of the Arctic and Antarctic Institute, Vladimir Sokolov, said, Xinhua reported.
The institute had to spent all the money allocated for 2010 for the emergency evacuation of the SP-37 drift station after the ice floe it stands on had been broken, he said.
"So this year the next station, SP-38, will not likely be planted, we are just short of funds for that," Sokolov added.
According to the scientist, service fees for the nuclear ice-breakers rose 10-fold during the last six years and the next polar station could be launched only if the extra state funds would be allocated.
Russia set up annual polar expedition before World War II and kept them going even during the Great Patriotic War.
The polar drift stations' crews consist of meteorologists, oceanographists and other scientists.