Russia’s Year-Round Arctic Trade Route Initiative

Western sanctions and changes in climate are impelling Moscow to realize a dream dating back three centuries to the time of Tsar Peter the Great—an all-water route from the Barents Sea to the Pacific through Russia’s coastal Arctic waters. During a Kremlin video conference on May 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed to participants that the Northern Sea Route (NSR) had become “extremely important” to Russia as climate change created more opportunities for shipping along the Arctic route, the shortest maritime link…