State Commission on Arctic Development supports expanding NSR to Barents Sea and Kamchatka
It is the term that is under discussion
According to the video of the meeting held by the State Commission on the Arctic Development and chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Yury Trutnev, its participants discussed the plan to introduce a new concept, ‘Northern Sea Transport Corridor’, actually expanding the Northern Sea Route (NSR) to the Barents Sea in the west and to the Kamchatka in the east.
“Two concepts are used in the draft Strategy (Arctic Development Strategy - Ed.): the Northern Sea Route and the Northern Sea Transport Corridor which covers the territory from Murmansk to Kamchatka. If we are set to ensure competitiveness of the Northern Sea Route we should expand the corridor through inclusion of the western and eastern fringes and construction of hubs there. Therefore, we have introduced this concept including NSR into the draft Strategy. It has been approved by the Ministry of Transport, Rosatom and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Neither we, nor the Ministry of Foreign Affairs see any negative legal implications of using this term”, said Aleksandr Krutikov, Deputy Minister for the Development of the Russian Far East and Arctic.
Being not opposed to this idea, Yury Trutnev has called on a thorough consideration of the term.
The Northern Sea Route is currently limited by the Kara Strait in the west and the Bering Strait in the east which is stipulated by international laws related to freezing. According to Maxim Kulinko, Deputy Head of the Northern Sea Route Directorate – Head of Rosatom’s Department for Development of NSR and Costal Territories, in some sense, it is a revival of the Soviet Union practices with Glavsevmorput responsible for the route between Murmansk and Kamchatka.
“It is not a substitution for the Northern Sea Route but it is a more correct model for economic development of our northern waters”, he explained.
Related links:
Maxim Kulinko: “First-ever phase-by-phase approach applied to ensure year-round navigation on the Northern Sea Route”>>>>
Aleksadr Krutikov: Arctic development to continue as planned with inevitable adjustments >>>>
