The ship has been flying a Curacao flag, but it will be switched to a Russianflag "in order to avoid a possible detention of the ship, " the state-run Itar-Tass news agency reported.
Artur Chilingarov, an adventurer and deputy speaker of Russia's parliament, led two Russian mini-submarines to the bottom of the Arctic Ocean beneath the North Pole, where he collected gravel and planted the Russianflag.