Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, has pledged to clean up industrial and toxic waste in the country's northern Arctic region. He made the announcement during a visit to the area on Thursday.

Vladimir Putin, Russian Prime Minister, said, "According to estimates, there are between 40 and 60-thousand tons of fuel and lubricant materials stored here. The pollution level is six times higher than allowed. We must organize a general clean-up of the Arctic area."

Results of scientific expeditions show thousands of barrels containing industrial waste have piled up in the Arctic region for years.

Putin also assisted researchers studying endangered polar bears during his visit to the region. Russia's Arctic is home to about a quarter of the world's 25-thousand polar bears.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, right, fixes a radio beacon on a neck of a polar bear, which was anaesthetized, during a visit to a research institute at the Franz Josef Land archipelago in the Arctic Ocean on Thursday, April 29, 2010.