BUENOS AIRES, December 20. /TASS/. The Islas Malvinas vessel of the Argentine Navy, carrying Russian experts and a remote-controlled submersible, has returned to the area where search for Argentina’s missing San Juan submarine continues, the Argentine Navy’s press service said on Tuesday.

"Argentine Navy’s Islas Malvinas vessel, equipped with the Pantera Plus submersible, is already examining the seabed together with the Argentine Navy’s La Argentina destroyer and UK ocean survey ship Protector," the press service said in a statement.

According to the statement, Russian ocean survey ship Yantar, which had to leave the search area to replenish its stocks, is expected to return to the search zone by the end of the week.

The Argentine Navy described current weather conditions in the search area as "good."

Last week, Islas Malvinas stayed at the Puerto Belgrano naval base for scheduled maintenance of Pantera Plus. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the Russian submersible has so far performed 12 dives in the search area at depths ranging between 135 and 1,050 meters, but found only two sunken fishing trawlers and other objects that had no relation to the missing submarine.

The diesel-electric submarine The San Juan, which left Ushuaia with 44 crew on board, went missing on November 15. The search for the submarine began on November 16. On November 30, the Argentine Navy declared it had curtailed the rescue operation and focused on search efforts.