The second vessel of the RITM-200 reactor intended for the new generation icebreaker Chukotka has been completed at Rosatom's Mechanical Engineering Division's Podolsk manufacturing facility. Russia has invested and increased its military presence in the Arctic as part of its efforts to develop a northern maritime route connecting Asia and Europe.
The need to expand those Arctic ambitions, made possible by global warming and melting ice sheets, has become more pressing as a result of Western sanctions imposed in response to Russia's offensive in Ukraine.
In 2030, Russian authorities hope to ship more than 190 million tonnes of cargo via the Northern Sea Route even though it is not comparable with the Suez Canal, which carried 1.41 billion tonnes of freight last year. However, it is a 5000-mile shorter to Asia than the Mediterranean route to the Suez Canal.
Russia has increased its military presence in the Arctic by reopening and modernising several bases and airfields that had been closed since the end of the Soviet era.
The northern fleet, tasked with protecting the Arctic Sea routes, held massive military drills in August involving over 8,000 service personnel and several submarines.
