OREANDA-NEWS. On 29 January 2009 was announced, that the Baikal Assistance Preservation Fund thanked Volga-Dnepr Airlines for its valuable contribution into the Baikal expedition MIR.

On July 11, 2008 Antonov AN-124-100 of Volga-Dnepr Airlines delivered from Kaliningrad, the Chkalovsk military aerodrome, into Ulan-Ude the MIR deep-sea vehicles involved in the scientific expedition on Lake Baikal. The shipment carried weighed 80 tons and included two small Mir-1 and Mir-2 submersibles, an oceanographic craft and the required research facilities.

In the letter of gratitude President of the Baikal Assistance Preservation Fund, Hero of the Russian Federation and Russian State Duma Deputy, Arthur Chilingarov, said: “We highly appreciate your operational and qualified support in finding solutions to the existing problems. We do hope that with all your active participation we will further manage to implement plans of the Baikal Assistance Preservation Fund focused on protection of the greatest freshwater habitat on Earth”.