Russian Polar Scientist, Parliament Veteran Artur Chilingarov Dies At 84

Artur Chilingarov was born in the city then known as Leningrad to Russian and Armenian parents and spent much of his childhood in Russia's North Caucasus region.

Artur Chilingarov, a Russian polar scientist and explorer and veteran member of parliament, died on Saturday, the speaker of the state Duma lower house said. He was 84.

Artur Chilingarov was born in the city then known as Leningrad to Russian and Armenian parents and spent much of his childhood in Russia's North Caucasus region.

From the early 1970s he was in the forefront of Russian scientific achievements in the Arctic and Antarctic, a participant in missions to both poles and a proponent of emphatically staking Russia's claim to the Arctic.