Northern investments: the Russian Federation is increasing the transport potential of the Arctic

Russia will develop a new logistics corridor through the Arctic to circumvent Western restrictions. The volume of shipments through the regions of Western Siberia alone can reach up to 100 million tons, the Maritime Board told Izvestia. The Russian Federation will ensure the safety of the Northern Sea Route, said Nikolai Patrushev, Assistant to the President and Chairman of the Maritime Board. According to him, the Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor can be connected to the Chinese Silk Road through the Ob-Irtysh basin. How the infrastructure of the Russian route is being actively modernized is described in the Izvestia article.

Russia will strengthen its presence in the Arctic

Russia will ensure security in the waters of the Transarctic Corridor, including the Northern Sea Route, said Nikolai Patrushev, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Maritime Board, at a meeting of the Council of the Maritime Board for the Protection of Russia's national interests in the Arctic, held in Salekhard.

— The Arctic region has always had special economic, scientific, cultural and political significance for our country. The rational development of the Arctic's natural resources, the infrastructural development of the region, and the transformation of the Northern Sea Route into a safe, year—round and competitive national transport network are the key priorities of the national maritime policy," said the presidential aide.

Recently, at a meeting of the Board of the Marine Board for the Strategic Development of the Navy, decisions were made to help protect Russia's national interests in the Arctic. They are aimed at organizing navigation along the Transarctic Transport Corridor and preventing provocative actions by foreign states in these latitudes.

In 2024, 37.9 million tons of cargo were transported along the Northern Sea Route (NSR), the Russian Ministry of Transport said earlier. This is a record figure, which exceeds the previous result by more than 1.6 million tons. The volume of traffic is growing by 3-5% every year. At the same time, export shipments of liquefied natural gas from Yamal accounted for more than 60% of the NSR cargo flow.

Before arriving in Salekhard, the Chairman of the Russian Maritime Board visited the village of Sabetta, the Arctic Integrated Rescue Center of the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations under construction, and inspected the facilities of the Yamal LNG plant. He also got acquainted with the facilities of the seaport.

At Sabetta airport, Nikolai Patrushev was met by the Governor of Yamal, Dmitry Artyukhov. He spoke about the consistently high level of LNG production at Russia's largest plant and the role of the Arctic seaport. The Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation discussed issues of ensuring the safety of navigation in the waters of the Gulf of Ob and the necessary technological solutions. Special attention was paid to the prospects of transportation support for Arctic oil and gas projects.

Yamal LNG and Sakhalin-2 are the only companies in the industry that are not under Western sanctions, since the United States takes into account foreign participation in these initiatives, Igor Yushkov, a leading expert at the National Energy Security Foundation, said in an interview with Izvestia.

At the same time, the development of new economic projects in the Arctic region will largely depend on reliable and safe maritime communications.

— First of all, it is necessary to ensure high readiness of forces and means to respond to the occurrence of emergency situations of a natural and man-made nature. Take measures to develop domestic communication systems and hydrometeorological support," Patrushev stressed.

The head of the Maritime Board noted that the units of the federal executive authorities that ensure the safety of maritime activities in the Arctic zone are still not technically equipped enough. Therefore, it is necessary to take additional measures to develop the rescue fleet, its locations, the creation of navigation equipment and aviation support.

Deputy Chairman of the government, Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative in the Far Eastern Federal District Yuri Trutnev specified Russia's plans in the Arctic. It is planned to build three Arctic rescue centers - in Sabetta, Tiksi and Dikson, and berthing and airfield infrastructure will be created for them. 42 new rescue vessels will also be put to sea. It is planned to launch 12 satellites into low-Earth orbit: four for communications, four for hydrometeorological monitoring and four more for radar surveillance. It is also necessary to build a new vessel for the hydrographic fleet.

The new importance of the Arctic region for Russia

In the future, the Transarctic Transport Corridor may be linked to the Chinese Silk Road project through the Ob-Irtysh basin. All this will contribute to the integration of the Eurasian transport corridors into the global transport network, Nikolai Patrushev said.

Currently, the basin's infrastructure needs to be modernized: its deterioration in a number of ports is up to 80%, and the vessels are obsolete. Therefore, the authorities of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug are modernizing the Salekhard River Port, and the Tobolsk Shipbuilding and Ship Repair Plant is implementing a program to create river-sea vessels. The fleet of passenger vessels, including high-speed ones, is being updated to ensure transport accessibility for the population of the Khanty-Mansiysk and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Districts.

— It is expected that by 2035, more than half of all gas production in our region will be concentrated in the northern regions of Yamal, and tens of millions of tons of cargo will need to be transported to implement development projects. The convenient location and unique transport capabilities of the Salekhard River Port and the Obskoi Pier project will allow saving up to 40% on logistics," said Dmitry Artyukhov, Governor of the Yamalo—Nenets Autonomous District.

Climate change has a strong impact on the development of the Arctic region. During Nikolai Patrushev's visit to the Arctic Research Center in Salekhard, scientists told him that by the end of the century, temperatures in Yamal will be above zero. As a result, the subject is at risk of subsidence of the soil and loss of its bearing capacity. To avoid this, local specialists are conducting large-scale scientific research, and 90 ground monitoring points have been deployed.

The Arctic is literally the future of Russia, as the region is a storehouse of natural resources. We don't fully know the extent of their occurrence, but scientists have absolute confidence that the resource base is huge, Vladimir Shapovalov, deputy director of the Institute of History and Politics at Moscow State University, told Izvestia.

The second key importance of the region is transport. Currently, Russia's main maritime trade routes pass through the ports of the Baltic and Black Seas. The total volume of goods transported through them amounted to about 500 million tons in 2024. However, Western countries are trying to obstruct Russian shipping. Piracy attempts, checks, and even threats of a blockade are underway.

To ensure that our partners have assumed their obligations, in addition to protecting existing logistics routes by all available means, the Russian Federation has begun implementing a new integrated transport and logistics infrastructure, including all types of cargo transportation, the Maritime Board told Izvestia. We are talking about the Transarctic Transport Corridor, which also uses inland waterways.

"Russia's historical experience in organizing such transportation, using new technological solutions, will ensure that our closest neighbors can transport up to 100 million tons of cargo per year from the regions of Western Siberia alone," the Russian Maritime Board noted.

In order for the Northern Sea Route to compete with the Baltic ports, infrastructure development is necessary, in addition, it is important to take into account the seasonal nature of navigation, Igor Yushkov emphasizes. Vladimir Shapovalov draws attention to the fact that the Arctic is Russia's frontier territory, and its neighbors in the region are unfriendly NATO countries.: USA, Canada, Norway and Denmark. All these countries are taking an aggressive stance towards Moscow, and protecting our interests in the Arctic is one of the priorities of Russian policy.