News – Russian Government

A meeting of the Council for the Protection of National Interests of the Russian Federation in the Arctic of the Russian Maritime Collegium was held in Moscow. The Council for the Protection of National Interests of the Russian Federation in the Arctic was created in order to fulfill the tasks assigned to the Maritime Collegium to develop measures aimed at implementing state maritime policy in the Arctic direction.

The meeting was chaired by Assistant to the President of Russia, Chairman of the Maritime Collegium Nikolai Patrushev and Head of the Council, Deputy Prime Minister – Presidential Plenipotentiary Representative in the Far Eastern Federal District Yuri Trutnev.

Issues related to the analysis and identification of threats to national security in the Arctic, assessment of the state and prospects for the development of the international, including military-political, situation in the Arctic and the socio-economic situation in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation are considered.

It was emphasized that accelerating the economic and infrastructural development of the Arctic, maintaining our country’s inalienable control over the Arctic territory, as well as the shelf and the Northern Sea Route, is one of the key priorities of the national maritime policy.

Proposals have been developed aimed at creating new shipyards and developing technologies for the construction of ice-class cargo ships. Emphasis was placed on the need to maintain the performance of existing foreign technology and equipment, create our own product lines, accelerate the development of domestic technologies in the field of drilling, geological exploration, construction of ships and shipyards, and Arctic infrastructure.

Special attention is paid to additional measures to develop scientific and technological potential for the development of the Arctic. It is proposed to study the issue of the feasibility of forming a program for the technological development of the Arctic. The need to establish our own product and technology development lines for the development of the Arctic region was emphasized. The importance of conducting fundamental and interdisciplinary applied scientific research related to the peculiarities of the functioning of equipment and materials, the behavior of elements of the northern ecosystem and the organization of human life in difficult climatic conditions is pointed out.