MOSCOW, Jan 19 A Danish company that wanted to lease Shumshu Island to create a hydrogen cluster, continues to work with the authorities of the Sakhalin Region, and the Ministry for the Development of the Far East is ready to help with the selection of a site, the head of the ministry, Alexei Chekunkov, said in an interview with RIA Novosti. Earlier, Governor of the Sakhalin Region Valery Limarenko said in an interview with RBC that Copenhagen Offshore Partners (Copenhagen Offshore Partners, COP) , which invests in renewable energy sources, intends to lease the island of Shumshu from the northern group of the Kuril Islands. Later, the presidential envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District, Yuri Trutnev, said that there could be no talk of leasing, all land plots for investment projects on the islands would be distributed under the control of a government commission.
"In the Far East, a large number of places with high potential for generating renewable energy — solar, wind, tidal, geothermal. Shumshu Island, where the heroic blow of the Red Army ended World War II, has a museum and historical value", Chekunkov said.
Preserving the memory of the feat of Soviet soldiers should remain the main mission of Shumshu Island, he stressed. «As for the Danish company's project, it works directly with the region. We are ready to support any investors in selecting the optimal site in suitable locations, to use all mechanisms of state support for projects,» the minister concluded.
Chekunkov: foreign investors are expected in the Kuriles after the introduction of a special regime