(Saint-Petersburg) Russia on Tuesday inaugurated a new nuclear-powered icebreaker which should facilitate its hydrocarbon exports to Asia via the Arctic, at a time when Moscow is reorienting its energy strategy because of Western sanctions against its offensive in Ukraine.
“The development of (northern sea routes) will allow Russia to fully realize its export potential and establish an efficient logistics route, including to Southeast Asia,” Russian President Vladimir Putin said. in a speech broadcast by videoconference during the commissioning ceremony in Saint Petersburg.
This new nuclear-powered ship, more than 170 meters long, can break ice up to three meters deep. It is the third copy in a series launched by the atomic energy giant Rosatom.
baptized Ural as a tribute to Russia’s Ural region, it can carry up to 54 crew members, according to Rosatom.
Its deployment must make it possible to ensure Russian supremacy in the Arctic, a strategy assumed by Vladimir Putin, while Moscow is confronted with the ambitions of other powers.
According to Mr Putin, the “Ural” will operate “from December” in the Arctic, a region where Russia produces liquefied natural gas (LNG) initially intended for Europe.
But the country, the world’s leading gas exporter and number two for oil, now wants to redirect its hydrocarbon deliveries to Asia, while the European Union has decided on a gradual embargo on its imports of Russian oil and largely reduced those in gas to protest against the Russian attack in Ukraine.
One of the routes through the frozen waters of the Arctic, the “Northern Sea Route”, is now more easily navigable due to the melting of the ice caused by climate change.
Moscow hopes that it will make it possible to increase the transport of hydrocarbons to Southeast Asia by connecting the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic oceans.
Russia, the world’s only builder and operator of nuclear icebreakers, also launched the Yakutiafrom the same series as theUralbut its effective entry into service is not scheduled until “end of 2024”, according to Vladimir Putin.
A gigantic nuclear-powered Russian ship, more than 200 meters long, is also due to see the light of day in 2027.