With a clear aim to boost shipping along the country's northern coast, Russia is building more nuclear icebreaker ships that can cut through the frozen Arctic Ocean. Top Officials of Russia's Nuclear power agency emphasised the need for more nuclear icebreakers, during Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to Atomflot, the Russian Government entity which maintains the world's only fleet of nuclear icebreaker ships. 

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The Northern Sea Route (NSR) is a shipping route along the northern coast of Russia, connecting Europe and Asia-Pacific regions via a shorter sea lane through the Arctic Ocean. 

Recently, President Vladimir Putin visited the base of Atomflot in the northwestern Russian port city of Murmansk. His visit covered the Headquarters of Marine Operations of the Northern Sea Route General Administration and the Federal State Budgetary Institution (NSR General Administration FSBI). 

According to the Russian Nuclear Power agency Rosatom, Putin was briefed about how 50 ships were navigating the waters of the Northern Sea Route (the NSR), with a group of nine nuclear and non-nuclear icebreaker ships. “I would like to point out that the headquarters' operations are demonstrated using Russian software of a unified platform for digital services. Now, you can see satellite radar imagery being displayed on the screen. We have begun employing artificial intelligence to analyze these images," said Sergey Zybko, Director General of NSR General Administration FSBI. 

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Further, highlighting the need for more nuclear icebreaker ships, Zybko stated that the ice situation in the Arctic has been worsening in recent years. "Despite widespread discussion about global warming, the current research by the Arctic and Antarctic Research Institutes does not prove it. According to these studies, no significant changes in ice cover are anticipated during winter and spring months until 2050," he added. 

Presently, Russia is building nuclear icebreaker ships Chukotka, Leningrad, and Rossiya. Additionally, another nuclear icebreaker under project 22220, Stalingrad, is also to also be built. Alexey Likhachev, chief of Russia's Nuclear agency Rosatom stated that two more universal nuclear icebreakers are required to maintain steady operations along the Northern sea route. In 2018, the Russian Government appointed Rosatom as the Northern Sea Route infrastructure operator. Rosatom is responsible for overseeing the federal project "Development of the Northern Sea Route".

Apart from Russia, there are seven Arctic nations-Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, USA. Interestingly, all of these seven nations are part of the Western Military Alliance NATO. The Arctic is home to multiple NATO and Russian military sites. Both sides regularly conduct military patrols and exercises in the region. The Arctic region is also known to hold massive unexplored reserves of oil, natural gas, rare earth minerals, fish stocks.