Cyprus' Russian-Ukrainian duo head to Antarctica

Two Limassol residents, a man from Ukraine and a woman from Russia, are flying to the earth’s southernmost town, where they will embark on a mission to Antarctica.

According to local media, Yevgen Staroselskiy from Kiev and Victoria Polevaya from Moscow, left Cyprus on Christmas Day to fly across the world to Chile, where they will reach Punta Arenas, the earth’s southernmost town.

The two mountaineers, who are part of an official mission from Nicosia, recently returned from an expedition to Kilimanjaro, the highest peak on the African continent, where they spent 11 days and also raised the flag of the Republic of Cyprus.

Polevaya and Staroselskiy, who is also a Cypriot citizen, are reportedly joining a commercial group which already completed a similar mission to Vinson Massif just last week.

Previous reports suggested the team from Cyprus had been planning to reach their destination on Christmas Day.

Alexander Abramov, one of the guides who oversee expeditions to Antarctica, wrote on Facebook last week that a group had terrible weather conditions during 8 of a total of 12 days on the mission.

“We fought the wind, tents kept flying, carried cargo and took pictures with frozen fingers. But the result is great, the whole team stood on top of the highest mountain in Antarctica - the Vinson Massif! The whole team rolled together like one mighty fist,” Abramov wrote.

Politics out of mountaineering

Participants in the latest mission included people from different countries, such as India, Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan, Belarus and Russia, added Abramov who has stated in the past that he wanted to keep politics out of mountaineering.

“This is true friendship of peoples. Everyone helped everyone, worried, rejoiced together. This is a great team,” Abramov said.

A state television report about the Cypriot team said the Limassolians would reach the peak on New Year’s Day.