MOSCOW, June 29. /TASS/. Foreign delegations that have arrived for the St. Petersburg International Maritime Defense Show have shown special interest in the 120 MW Lider icebreaker project and Arctic technologies, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said in a live broadcast of Rossiya 24 TV Channel on Thursday.

According to the vice-premier, foreign delegations have displayed big interest in the naval show. Dozens of foreign delegations, navy chiefs from various countries, naval ministers and industrialists from European countries have come to view the latest developments in Russia’s shipbuilding, despite the anti-Russian sanctions.

"They display the greatest interest in our plans related to the Navy. They want to know how we have implemented many import substitution plans, what technical solutions were offered by our designers and engineers to actually close the gaps in deliveries amid the sanctions. Secondly, there is great interest in the Arctic theme. This is absolutely sure. These are, of course, our projects of icebreakers and surely special interest is evoked by the Lider icebreaker project developed by the Krylov Research Center," Rogozin said.

As compared to large Russian icebreakers, such as the Arktika, the Ural and the Sibir that will be commissioned already in 2019, 2020 and 2021, the talk is about an even larger icebreaker with a capacity of 120 megawatts, the vice-premier said.

"This is the icebreaker that will help break the ice even in the severest ice conditions. That is, these are ices of any thickness - four and five meters thick," Rogozin said.

The Russian vice-premier earlier said the shipbuilders and the state civil nuclear power corporation Rosatom were optimistic about the project of building the 120 MW nuclear-powered Lider icebreaker. The documentation and the entire technical basis for the icebreaker’s construction are available.

The Lider icebreaker could provide for the operation of the Northern Sea Route throughout the year in any weather conditions both along the western corridor and in the east for the transportation of hydrocarbons, the vice-premier said. The capacity of the largest icebreaker, which the Baltic Shipyard is currently building, is 60WT.