Published on: 2026-10-01
Source: Government of the Russian Federation –
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The meeting of the Council under the Maritime Board was held by the Assistant to the President of Russia Nikolay Patrushev and the Deputy Prime Minister – Plenipotentiary Representative of the President in the Far Eastern Federal District Yuri Trutnev.
“In accordance with the instructions of the President of the Russian Federation, the Government of the Russian Federation, together with the Maritime Collegium, is currently developing a comprehensive project ‘Development of the Arctic Zone and the Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor.’ As part of implementing these instructions, a systematic approach is being formed for the development of the Arctic region and the Trans-Arctic transport corridor, which consists of the interconnected development of Arctic territories, maritime and river routes, and ensuring security. Within the work on forming the comprehensive project, synchronization must be ensured of the efforts in developing communication infrastructure, energy, and transport infrastructure in the Far North with the issues of industrial development and socio-economic development of the Arctic zone of Russia. These issues have been repeatedly discussed at meetings of the Maritime Collegium and our council, the State Commission on Arctic Development. Work is underway to implement the decisions made,” Nikolai Patrushev opened the meeting.
As Yuri Trutnev reminded, in accordance with the decisions of the President of Russia, a special legal regime and three advanced development territories have been established in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation (AZRF): “Chukotka,” “Capital of the North,” and “Capital of the Arctic.” “The provided preferences have allowed investors to start implementing more than a thousand projects, attracting over 2.6 trillion rubles in investments to the region. According to agreements already concluded, by 2036 the total volume of investments in the AZRF will exceed 30 trillion rubles. The products produced by the residents – LNG of the company Novatek, oil and petroleum products of the companies Gazprom Neft, Lukoil, and NK Rosneft, cargo of the company Norilsk Nickel, and others – have effectively formed the cargo base of the Transarctic transport corridor. Over 10 years, cargo traffic along the Northern Sea Route has grown from 4 million tons (2014) to 38 million tons (2024),” said the Deputy Prime Minister.
The infrastructure of the Northern Sea Route (NSR), icebreaker and emergency rescue fleet is being modernized and created. Through the efforts of the state corporation Rosatom, a group of eight nuclear icebreakers has been formed. Three more series nuclear icebreakers of project 22220, the lead nuclear icebreaker “Leader,” and a multifunctional technological service vessel are under construction. A group of 14 emergency rescue fleet vessels has been created, with another 10 vessels under construction. The state corporation Roscosmos has launched four hydro-meteorological and radar observation satellites into orbit. Within the framework of the NSR development plan, federally owned facilities have been commissioned at the “Utrenny” terminal for the “Arctic LNG 2” project and “Bukhta Sever” for the “Vostok Oil” project, as well as a marine LNG transshipment complex in the Murmansk region. The Ministry of Emergency Situations of Russia built an emergency rescue center in Pevek.
Yuri Trutnev noted that the situation around the Russian Arctic and Russia as a whole has significantly changed over the past five years. “The President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, has given the directive to update the strategic Arctic documents, the main one being the Strategy for the Development of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation until 2035 with a perspective to 2050. In August of this year, the updated strategy was reviewed at a meeting of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. The most important task became the development of a comprehensive project for the development of the AZRF and the Trans-Arctic transport corridor — a unified system of routes including the Northern Sea Route, related internal waterways, and transport infrastructure facilities,” Yuri Trutnev noted, emphasizing that the comprehensive project will become the main instrument for the strategy’s implementation and will include a formed portfolio of more than 300 major projects with a total volume of 36 trillion rubles.
The Deputy Prime Minister announced that a digital platform for managing the implementation of a comprehensive project will be created. A similar system has already been developed for master plan projects of the cities of the Far East and key settlements of the Arctic.
Special attention in the creation of the Transarctic Transport Corridor is paid to the development of international transportation. “Already today, transit is becoming an important part of the cargo base of the Transarctic Transport Corridor. Currently, it accounts for about 10% of the total cargo flow. Foreign consignors actively participate in the transportation of goods via the Northern Sea Route. In the 2025 navigation season, 24 voyages were completed, and 410 thousand tons of cargo were transported. This is 2.2 times more than last year. We see great prospects in developing partnerships with India and China. In the Russian Arctic Zone, a number of projects involving China are being implemented. The Republics of Korea and Vietnam have also shown interest in cooperating on the Transarctic Transport Corridor,” said Yuri Trutnev.
As noted by the Minister for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic, Alexey Chekunkov, the key instrument for implementing the Arctic Zone Development Strategy will be a comprehensive project that integrates issues of creating extracting and processing industries as well as new energy capacities, taking into account the needs for transport and logistics facilities. “This is a strategic document aimed at ensuring the economic development of the macroregion and improving people’s quality of life. The indicators of the comprehensive project are synchronized with the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation Development Strategy. A portfolio of 300 largest investment projects totaling 36 trillion rubles has been formed. By 2035, about 1.4 GW is planned to be introduced in unified and isolated energy systems. The capacity of key energy facilities in the Arctic will grow to 5.6 GW. In addition, investors plan to create another 3.5 GW of energy capacity. The expansion of the export freight base is inextricably linked to the construction of port and access infrastructure, including the creation of universal ports in Arkhangelsk and Naiba, the development of the Murmansk transport hub, and the construction of the Northern Latitudinal Railway.”The implementation of the comprehensive project will ensure the export of about 150 million tons of cargo per year,
The participants of the meeting discussed additional measures to ensure the year-round operation of the Trans-Arctic transport corridor.
Attention was drawn to the need for the interconnected development of Arctic territories, maritime and river routes, ensuring security, synchronization of work on the formation of communication infrastructure, energy, and transport infrastructure in the Far North with issues of industrial development of the Arctic.
Tasks have been set aimed at the development of communication, navigation, and ship positioning systems, as well as improving the accessibility and promptness of providing information on hydrometeorological and ice conditions. Measures for the comprehensive development of Arctic ports have been defined.
The financial and economic model project of the Trans-Arctic transport corridor has been reviewed, specifically concerning the implementation of the caravan model for icebreaker support.
In addition, directions for organizing international cooperation in the interests of developing the Transarctic transport corridor have been identified, with an emphasis on increasing the volume of international transit freight through the Arctic zone of Russia, as well as on joint measures with friendly countries to counteract sanction orders issued by third countries.
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