New maritime humanitarian research center to study national maritime traditions of Russia, partner countries - Patrushev

MOSCOW. June 15 (Interfax) - A center for maritime humanitarian research now being created will study the national maritime traditions of Russia and its non-Western partners, a Russian presidential aide and Maritime Board Chairman Nikolai Patrushev said.

"Following our president's decision, we are creating a Maritime Humanitarian Research Center at the Russian State University for the Humanities under the aegis of the Maritime Board," Patrushev said in an interview with the Rossiyskaya Gazeta newspaper published on Monday.

The development of international contacts via the Maritime Board has highlighted the "importance of studying Russia's historical civilizational mission in the Global Ocean and informing the Russian and foreign public about it," Patrushev said.

"We are seeing requests from our non-Western partners asking, among other things, to help research their national maritime traditions," he said.

Historical legal foundations are still relevant when defending sovereignty, he said. "A case in point is the Arctic. Now that we have begun to form the Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor, it is important to remember that a part of it, the Northern Sea Route, is not just a logistical route but a result of a century-long Arctic exploration by Russians, paid for with colossal labor and sacrifice," Patrushev said.

One of initiatives could involve preparing an atlas of geographic features that would "fully demonstrate our country's enormous contribution in Ocean research," he said.

"There is a huge number of Russian names on the maritime map of the world, including in its farthest regions, in Oceania for instance," Patrushev said.