I am " sure "only science is their voyage plan and not "resource survey and grabbing " .
Russian-led BRICS expedition seeks resources in Antarctica
Russia and Brazil to conduct scientific expedition to Antarctica - Prensa Latina
Russia’s Antarctic flagship sails into Cape Town as part of BRICS jamboree
From the first article/link:
“Scientists from seven countries: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, India, Peru, and Russia. Researchers from South Africa …”
I work research & I can tell you this, they’re not going to find anything unless they know where it is already nor will they get much accomplished. All those different nationality scientists “working together” is a worse case scenario. From my experiences, each group lead considers themselves the best in their field & each will be fighting for time & giving orders where the ship should go to do their individualized research. Lead scientists don’t like to play second fiddle & 7 of them at the same time would be a nightmare clusterfuck. Whatever sins that Russian crew has committed, God will likely forgive them after the suffering they’ll be going through on that voyage.
Also, Russia isn’t the only one starting their Antarctica season. The Polar Star just started down. I say she has a 75% chance of making it.
Are you taking bets on that?
Love your answers and style 
But for sb who participated in senior officers meetings in Hamburg during yearly round ups of captains and chengs the scenario You have described seems quite familiar. All guys cosider themselves top bananas and best experts in the field.
Even if their field is screwing up mostly they still keep their chins high.
Cheers
You summed it up perfectly. On an oceanographic ship where only one task can be done at a time and dealing with an ineffectual team leader and nine individuals who were convinced that they alone were anointed as the most important scientist onboard and their research was paramount, was worse than dealing with an Aussie wharfie union.
The season is ramping up. In addition to Russian ships (Akademik Tryoshnikov, Akademik Fedorov), I’ve spotted China (Xue Long, Xue Long 2), South Korea (Araon), US (Nathaniel B. Palmer in addition to USCGC Polar Star), Italy (Laura Bassi), France (L’Astrolabe), United Kingdom (RRS Sir David Attenborough), Japan (Shirase), Australia (Nuyina) and Germany (Polarstern) heading south, and expect perhaps Chile (Almirante Viel) and Argentina (Almirante Irizar) to join the game. I presume FESCO’s SA-10 Vasiliy Golovnin will support Indian activities again this year.
I’ve also spotted three of the world’s four Polar Class 5 cruise ships in the Antarctic waters; SH Minerva is still laid up due to sanctions. A notable exception is Le Commandant Charcot which is sailing in the Baltic and Canadian waters this winter.
