Russian President Vladimir Putin on Sunday said that his country’s southernmost Vostok research station in Antarctica is “one of the most modern and well-equipped” in the continent ...

At the continent’s Vostok Station, less than 1,000 miles from the South Pole, Russian researchers were able to grow eight watermelons in conditions not well suited to the summertime snack ...

The Russian Institute of the Arctic and Antarctic, which manages Vostok, took the decision to mothball the station because it could not deliver sufficient fuel and supplies to keep the base going.