MOSCOW, January 10. /TASS/. A convoy of Russian ships has crossed the Northern Sea Route westwards for the first time in conditions of winter navigation, Sovcomflot, one of the world's leading shipping companies, reported.

Sovcomflot was one of the participants of the crossing.

The crossing started in the Bering Strait on December 21, 2016 and was completed in the Ob Bay of the Kara Sea on January 3, 2017. In total the convoy covered about 2,400 miles.

The vessels crossed the Northern Sea Route in the dead of polar night and difficult ice conditions.

The convoy of ships escorted by FSUE Atomflot’s nuclear-powered icebreaker 50 Let Pobedy also included the Shturman Ovtsyn shuttle tanker and Audax and Arctic-1 motorships.

Shturman Ovtsyn is a shuttle tanker that was ordered by Sovcomflot as part of a long term contract with Gazprom Neft company. It is used for delivery of crude from the Yamal peninsula to the port of Murmansk in conditions of yearly navigation. The vessel is registered under the Russian flag and has a home port in St. Petersburg.