...to bring extinct species like woolly mammoths back to life

Vladimir Putin will next month unveil exact plans for the centre intended to be a "world class paleo-genetic scientific hub" in the world's coldest city, Yakutsk

Scientists from Russia and South Korea have teamed up for some time

Extinct woolly mammoths, cave lions and other long-gone species may be brought back to lifee in a new £4.5million cloning facility in Russia, scientists claim.

The new Jurassic Park-style centre will be a "world class paleo-genetic scientific hub" in the world's coldest city, Yakutsk, in the remote north-east of the country.

Vladimir Putin's exact plans will be unveiled in September at an investment forum but experts say the centre will aim "to study extinct animals from living cells - and to restore such creatures as the woolly mammoth, woolly rhinoceros, cave lion and breeds of long-gone horses".

Mammoth trunks will be examined in the facility (Image: Semyon Grigoryev-The Siberian Ti)

The cloning laboratories - some sunk deep in the permafrost soil - will extend research by Russian scientists who are already working closely with South Korean specialists.

They've found DNA from the ancient animals preserved in remains encased in frozen soil - or permafrost - for tens of thousands of years.

Dr Lena Grigorieva - who drafted plans for the centre - said: “There is no such unique material anywhere else in the world.

The woolly mammoth diverged from the steppe mammoth about 400,000 years ago in east Asia (Image: The Siberian Times)

South Korean SOOAM Biotech Research Foundation has supported the plans

“We study not only Pleistocene animals - another line is the study of the history of settlement of the North-East of Russia.

"Northern ethnic groups have a unique ancient genetic structure.

“Such studies will help in the study of rare genetic diseases, their diagnosis, prevention.”

Vladimir Putin will officially unveil his plans next month (Image: REUTERS)

The university has existing close cooperation with South Korean SOOAM Biotech Research Foundation, led by cloning expert Professor Hwang Woo-Suk.

There are also links between Russian scientists and Harvard University geneticist Professor George Church who plans to inset woolly mammoth genes into an Asian elephant embryo by 2020.

If successful it will create a mammoth-elephant hybrid and there are plans for the species to roam free in Siberia’s Pleistocene Park, which is seeking to recreate the habitat of the far north of Yakutia when the hairy giants lived.

Video can be accessed at source link below