President Vladimir Putin put forward an ambitious program to secure Russia's foothold in the Arctic, including efforts to build new ports and other infrastructure facilities and expand an icebreaker fleet.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin attends a plenary session of the International Arctic Forum in St. Petersburg, Russia, on April 9.
“This is a realistic, well-calculated and concrete task,” Putin said. “We need to make the Northern sea route safe and commercially feasible.”Russia currently has four nuclear icebreakers, and Putin said that three new such ships are currently under construction. By 2035, Russia stands to have a fleet of 13 heavy icebreakers, including nine nuclear-powered ones, he said.
Russia, the U.S., Canada, Denmark and Norway have all been trying to assert jurisdiction over parts of the Arctic as shrinking polar ice creates new opportunities for resource exploration and new shipping lanes. Solberg and other leaders who spoke at the forum underlined the need for all countries in the Arctic region to focus on areas of mutual interest despite differences.
Russia's relations with the U.S. and other NATO allies have plummeted to post-Cold War lows over Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea, the war in Syria, Moscow's meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election and other issues.
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