The rf Has Acknowledged the Failure of the Northern Sea Route Project

russia has acknowledged the inability to achieve the previously planned goals of using the Northern Sea Route as a powerful logistics route. International isolation complicates cooperation with European partners and limits the kremlin’s access to certain technologies and services.

In 2024, russian ships transported 37.9 million tons of goods via the Arctic route, although moscow planned to ship at least 80 million tons.

The reason for this is the deterioration of climatic conditions in the region. Over the past few years, the ice cover has been increasing, and scientists do not expect significant changes until 2050. This is influenced by Arctic winds that have pushed sea ice to the coast of Northern Siberia. This will continue for a long time, as large volumes of multiyear ice are concentrated in the East Siberian and Chukchi Seas.

At this, the development of the Arctic fleet, especially the construction of the newest nuclear icebreaker, project 22220 “Arktika”, and the provision of high-quality satellite monitoring of the region are just plans, implementation of which is in doubt amidst the war against Ukraine.