MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) – Instead of the Baltic Sea, Russia wants to increasingly use its Arctic waters for oil exports in the future. “We are currently working with Russian companies to divert Russian oil away from the Baltic Sea ports to the Northeast Passage as the safest and most attractive route,” Rosatom national nuclear agency chief Alexei Likhachev told a government meeting chaired by President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday . The route along the north coast of Russia should be made navigable all year round with the help of nuclear icebreakers. Putin described the expansion of the Northeast Passage as a strategic project.
“The development of the Northern Sea Route is undoubtedly one of the obvious strategic priorities. We shouldn’t cut corners here and cut anything because of the economy,” said the Kremlin chief. In Moscow, the Northeast Passage is called the Northern Sea Route. He hopes that the project will be fully implemented, Putin said. The reorientation of oil shipments out of European ports is intended to make Russia more resilient to Western sanctions that followed Moscow’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
The Northeast Passage only became interesting for shipping due to climate change and the melting of the ice mass in the Arctic. According to environmentalists, commercial shipping – especially with oil tankers – also harbors the risk of major natural disasters that can cause lasting damage to the sensitive ecosystem of the Arctic./bal/DP/jha