Russian Officials Brag about 8-Hour Flight Time between Moscow and Chukotka but Ignore Days and Weeks It Takes Passengers and Cargo to Get to Airports in North, Sulyma Say

Paul Goble
    Staunton, Feb. 9 – Russian officials like to brag that jet planes have reduced the time it takes to get from Moscow to Chukotka in the extreme northeast of the Russian Federation, but they ignore the days and even weeks it takes for passengers and cargo to and from the airport there because of the absence of year-round roads, Sergey Sulyma says.
    Roads that are passable when the ground freezes are impassable when it melts, the Russian historian who specializes in transportation issues in the high north says; and consequently, people have to plan for long delays when travelling or dispatching or receiving goods (iarex.ru/articles/145222.html).
    The delays are so enormous that talk about the jet age is incomplete unless one acknowledges the absence of roads that can be used when the weather warms up – or even in some districts the absence of roads, even unpaved, altogether, Sulyma reports. And thus all the talk about speeding up of movement along this axis in the country is misplaced.
    He points out that “logistics in the North is a special sphere of activity with its unique characteristics and difficulties. Its complexity reflects the severe climate, territories not connected by reliable roads, insufficiently developed infrastructure, and high transportation expenses.”
    All that should be factored in any discussions about transportation times and costs, but officials usually ignore this problem, Sulyma says; and independent specialists tend to follow their claims without checking up as to whether they are true of not, something that reenforces the current underinvestment in roads and bridges in the North.