Russia Remains Heavily Reliant on Ice Roads to Tie the Country Together

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Jan. 6 – Russia, it has sometimes been suggested, came into existence as a country only because of the combination of two natural phenomena: its major rivers flow south to north and the water of these rivers freezes during much of the year making it possible for those in the south to extend their reach and rule into the north.

            But most people consider this a matter of historical interest and ignore the fact that the ice roads remain a major component of Russia’s geography, linking together cities and regions that otherwise are unconnected on the ground. (They are of course now linked by air, but planes can’t carry the amount of cargo that trucks, trains and ships can or do so at anything like the price.)

            A report by the Toboznoye Radio telegram channel that has been reposted by the YakutiaFuture portal serves as a reminder of just how important these ice roads are in much of Russia and how willing government and business there are to spend money to keep them operational (t.me/Torboznoe_radio/1421 and yakutiafuture.ru/2023/01/06/na-stroitelstvo-lenskogo-mosta-uzhe-ushlo-25-milliarda-rublej/).

            To ensure that the ice roads continue to operate, the telegram channel says, Russia has spend billions of rubles each year in recent times and plans to continue to do so well into the future.