Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom is in talks with India over the Northern Sea Route. Cooperation would entail linking the International North-South Transport Corridor that links the Indian port of Mumbai with the Russian port of St. Petersburg, and Russian ports on the Arctic Sea via a sea and rail route across Iran, central Asia and Russia. Rosatom is overseas the Northern Sea Route which is 3,000 nautical miles (3,500 miles) long and connects the Barents Sea and the Bering Strait. It is the shortest route between Europe and Asia, as well as the shortest sea route between Russia’s Far East and its European part. For India it would also shorten the routes with western Europe and northeast Asia.
“We are starting to cooperate not only in the nuclear field. There are also discussions about joint projects on the Northern Sea Route and the use of this global transport corridor in the interests of the Indian economy,” Rosatom head Alexey Likhachev told reporters as quoted by Sputniknews. Rosatom and its Indian counterparts are also negotiating a potential partnership in scientific and technological fields such as quantum computing, communications, and quantum sensors, Likhachev said.
