The Russian Air Force has resumed its use of a polar airfield after a long period of idling, the Defense Ministry said Tuesday.

"The task of restoration of the Temp airfield on Kotelny Island has been completed," said First Deputy Defense Minister Arkady Bakhtin during a video conversation with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

According to Bakhtin, an An-72 cargo aircraft landed at the airport 5:30 am Moscow time (0130 GMT).

Bakhtin said work to extend the runway were under way so that the airport could receive larger planes and be used permanently.

He revealed the air force and airborne troops have dropped about 40 tons of cargo from two Il-76 aircraft on to the Arctic island.

Kotelny, an island within the Novosibirsk archipelago in the eastern part of the Arctic Ocean, belongs to the Siberian Sakha (Yakutia) Republic.

In September, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the military to restore polar airports in Kotelny Island and Tiksi, in the Bulunsky District, to safeguard and serve the Northern Sea Route shipping lane and adjacent Arctic zone.

In the same month, the Northern Fleet delivered 150 troops and 40 vehicles to Kotelny, as well as residential capsules for airport personnel.

Earlier this month, Putin reiterated that Russia would never "surrender" its Arctic area.