BANGKOK, April 22. /TASS/. Rapid development of the Northern Sea Route could make a significant contribution to strengthening energy stability not only in Southeast Asia but also across the entire Asia-Pacific region (APR), Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alimov said in an interview with a TASS correspondent.
"Undoubtedly, the role of the Northern Sea Route will only increase in the future. Rapid development of this safe and fast route could make a significant contribution to strengthening energy stability not only in Southeast Asia, but also throughout the Asia-Pacific region. We are ready to establish cooperation with our Asian partners in this area," he said on the sidelines of the 82nd session of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in Bangkok.
"The need for reliable transport and logistics chains becomes especially urgent during periods of turbulence. The Northern Sea Route, which can almost halve the time it takes to transport cargo from Europe to Asia, gives Russia a unique competitive advantage in this regard," he said.
"Shipping volumes along our northern routes are showing steady positive trends: in 2025, they amounted to approximately 37 million tons of cargo, compared to approximately 5.4 million tons in 2015," Alimov noted.
The Northern Sea Route is a shipping route and the main maritime communication channel in the Russian Arctic. It runs along the northern shores of Russia through the seas of the Arctic Ocean, connecting European and the country’s Far Eastern ports, as well as the mouths of navigable Siberian rivers, into a single transportation system. Its length is 5,600 km.