Requests for permits should be sent 90 days before the NSR passage
A draft law supposed to oblige foreign states to submit requests for the passage of warships across the internal sea waters of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) has been submitted to the State Duma of the Russian Federation. The author of the initiative is RF Government, according to the official website of the State Duma. Amendments are to be introduced into the Federal Law Concerning the Internal Sea Waters, the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone of the Russian Federation.
According to the explanatory note to the bill, requests should be sent through diplomatic channels no later than 90 days before the expected date of passages.
The draft law includes provisions allowing for a prompt suspension of passage through the internal sea waters and the territorial sea by navigation warnings.
The document underlines that the trend towards the increase of transit cargo flow on the NSR with no efficient legal arrangements regulating navigation of foreign ships in the NSR waters does not let fully ensure safe commercial and military shipping or undertake measures aimed at the national interests of the Russian Federation in the Arctic region.
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