Inuit in two countries are angry over Russian plans to drop a rocket stage potentially carrying highly toxic fuel into some of the most productive waters in the Arctic.
Okalik Eegeesiak of the Inuit Circumpolar Commission says Inuit from a dozen communities in Nunavut and Greenland regularly hunt and travel on the sea where the space debris is slated to splash down.
She says that part of the ocean is their front yard and Russia has no right to treat it as a no-man's-land.
She says her group is planning a formal protest to the Russian government.
In a statement, Russia has downplayed environmental risks from the rocket.
But published reports suggest the type of missile being used normally falls back to earth with unspent fuel in its tanks.
