BEIJING, December 19. /TASS/. The development of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) creates jobs and develops connections with the Far East, Russia's deputy prime minister and the president's envoy to the Far Eastern Federal District, Yury Trutnev, told TASS following a Beijing meeting of the intergovernmental commission on the development of the Russian Far East and of Northeast China.
"Some of the Far East regions are also Arctic regions. The Northern Sea Route creates jobs and regional connections," the envoy said in response to a request to comment on the importance of the Northern Sea Route for the region.
NSR is "not just a water area where ships may sail," he continued. "It is a satellite grouping to monitor weather conditions and to have ice reconnaissance. It is the icebreakers, both nuclear and non-nuclear, that will be able to lead vessels in difficult ice conditions. It is a large number of service vessels. It is the Emergency Situations Ministry's stations to address potential problems during the navigation."
The deputy prime minister said he had discussed with the intergovernmental commission's co-chairman, Vice Premier of China's State Council Zhang Guoqing the issue of ship insurance. "Western counterparts have stopped insuring ships, this is not very good. Chinese banks have significant capital, and they are quite able to simply occupy this market. It would be a good solution," the president's envoy said.
According to the envoy's press service, Chinese carriers have been using the Northern Sea Route. In 2023, China's NewNew Shipping Line has completed eight voyages from China to the ports of Murmansk and St. Petersburg.
Northern Sea Route
The Northern Sea Route is a shipping route in the Russian Arctic that runs along Russia's northern shores in seas of the Arctic Ocean (the Barents, Kara, Laptev, East Siberian, Chukchi and Bering Seas). It connects the Russian Federation's European and Far Eastern ports as well as the mouths of navigable Siberian rivers into a single transport system. NSR's length from the Kara Gate Strait to the Providence Bay is 5,600 km. More than 50 ports are on the route. NSR is almost twice shorter than other sea routes from Europe to the Far East.
In 1991, the Northern Sea Route was opened to international shipping. In 2013, a federal law fixed the NSR borders. In 2018, the Rosatom State Corporation received the authority to develop the Northern Sea Route.