The head of Russia’s nuclear engineering company Rosatom, Alexey Likhachev, asserted that the real issue for Greenland is to integrate it into an Arctic transportation circle. He added that the political debate over the island’s ownership is centered around issues of its economic development and integration into major logistics routes.
“At the direction of the Russian President, the outlines for the creation of the Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor are currently being developed. This major logistics and infrastructure project will effectively consolidate industrial exports from Russian enterprises in the Urals, Arctic, and Siberia through the waters of the Northern Sea Route to consumers in the Asian region. … I cannot rule out that the development of economic potential of the entire Arctic region will allow us to talk about closing the Trans-Arctic Transport Corridor into a large transport ring,” he was quoted by TASS as saying.
Pointing to statements by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Eastern Economic Forum last year, where he said that Russia and the United States could work together in the Arctic region, he added: “We understand better than anyone that developing this harsh region isn’t a matter of politics, but rather a matter of using the most advanced technologies. Put simply, it’s easy to plant a flag at the pole, but try to bring anything back from there. Rosatom’s nuclear technologies are indispensable for work in the Arctic,” he stressed.
The Bering Strait Tunnel linking Russia and Alaska is very much part of Russia’s Arctic development program, and came into widespread discussion around last year’s Alaska Summit between Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump.
Rosatom is responsible for the development of Russia’s Arctic region because of the central role of nuclear energy. Only large nuclear-powered icebreakers are capable of cutting through ice that is up to 9 meters thick. Rosatom is also deploying floating nuclear power stations and small modular reactors to supply electricity and heat at isolated towns, and oil and gas facilities.
