Northern Sea Route ‘a Black Hole into Which Russian Economy is Collapsing,’ Expert Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, Mar. 25 – Vladimir Putin and his regime continue to talk about the great successes of shipping across the Northern Sea Route, but Moscow experts say they are lying and a Norwegian specialist adds that that Arctic route now is “a black hole into which the Russian economy is collapsing,” with money being spent without hope of significant returns.

            These experts, including Mikhail Grigoryev of the Gekon Company and Aleksandr Sokolov of Petrogeko, point out that last year the route carried 25 percent less freight than Moscow had planned and that such a figure would have been even worse had Moscow officials not included short-distance barge traffic (moscowtimes.ru/2024/03/25/rossiiskaya-arktika-mir-bezumnogo-planirovaniya-a125643).

            Claims to the contrary are “lies,” they say; and the figures for 2024 are likely to be even worse despite promises to the contrary by Putin officials who are happy to get money for the scheme but are up against a variety of obstacles that mean the Northern Sea Route is not going to become the transforming project the Kremlin has promised and expected.

            And the Norwegian expert, Arild Moe, who also participated in the Russian Academy of Sciences along with Grigoryev and Sokolov, said that there were now no prospects that Russia could get the kind of outside investment it would need for any of Moscow’s plans to meet its overly ambitious target figures.

            Not only have ships from China and other countries stopped using the route, the three say; but Russia does not have “either icebreakers or ice-class cargo ships” that would allow Moscow to meet its goals. And the country isn’t going to have them anytime soon as foreign firms are refusing to supply equipment or finished vessels.