By Dmitry Skvortsov
Russia is embarking on a large-scale development of the Arctic territories. We are talking not only about the strategically important Northern Sea Route, but also about other equally significant tasks. What is the first thing the state plans to do in the Arctic and how will these territories enhance the country's security and become profitable in the end?
The Russian Arctic is five million square kilometers, almost 20,000 km of sea border. Along the entire length there are strategically important objects of both defense and economic nature. Almost 2.5 million people live in 250 settlements beyond the Arctic Circle. During a recent visit to the Murmansk region, the Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Center for the Construction of Large Offshore Structures (TsSKMS) and held a meeting on the development of human settlements in the Arctic. It was decided to pay special attention to the development of those cities and towns in the Arctic, in which projects will be implemented that provide key tasks in the field of security and economy.
For the development of Arctic settlements, it is planned to use the experience that has proven itself in projects for the development of the Far East. In particular, it was proposed to extend the Far Eastern Mortgage program to the Arctic zone. This will attract new developers to the Arctic and at the same time contain the rise in housing prices. Within the framework of this program, preferential mortgages at 2% will be provided only for new housing in the primary market and at the price of the Ministry of Construction.
But plans for the development of the Arctic do not only consist of urban planning aspects. Arrangement of places of residence for the inhabitants of the Russian Arctic should be subject to the logic of solving the strategic tasks facing Russia on its northern borders. There are four such tasks.
The Northern Sea Route is not only for internal needs
First, it is the development of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) as an international transport corridor. For this, there is not enough icebreaker fleet (which is being built at an accelerated pace and already many times exceeds in its capabilities all other icebreaker fleets combined). It is necessary that strongholds be provided along the entire length of the Northern Sea Route, providing the possibility of ice reconnaissance, supplying passing ships, and emergency assistance. Thus, the NSR will become an attractive route for international transport companies and, due to this, will begin to bring significant funds to the Russian budget.
The passage along the Northern Sea Route should not be a dangerous expedition to uninhabited places, but a routine event, no more difficult than the passage of the Suez Canal and the Mediterranean Sea.
For this, a lot of preparatory work needs to be done. So far, the growth in cargo turnover along the Northern Sea Route is mainly due to an increase in the export of resources mined in the Arctic zone and an increase in the import of equipment and materials intended for the development of production, the creation of infrastructure and the development of settlements. But the importance of transit should also increase.
In the near future, it is planned to redirect oil shipments from the ports of the Baltic and, possibly, Novorossiysk to the Northern Transport Corridor. New opportunities for oil transshipment via the NSR will be opened by a port in the Nenets settlement of Indiga on the coast of the Barents Sea. The federal project includes the construction of not only the port, but also the Indiga-Sosnogorsk railway.
Development of the Arctic pantry
Secondly, this is the integrated development of the natural resources of the region. Promising oil and gas provinces are located in the Arctic. And besides, huge deposits of coal, which will be of particular importance if it becomes possible to transport coal by sea.
Finally, in the Arctic there are rich deposits of ores of various metals.
And Norilsk, where 85% of the Russian production of nickel and cobalt, 70% of copper, more than 95% of platinum group metals are mined (and smelted). Silver, selenium and tellurium are mined at the deposits of the Norilsk ore region.
But this is not the only storeroom. Now the design of a mining complex for the extraction of lead on Novaya Zemlya is underway. It is planned to develop the Pizhma deposit of titanium ores and quartz sands in the Komi Republic. There are a number of other projects.
Manufacturing and industry
Third, industrial development. This is not only about expanding the traditional shipbuilding and shipbuilding capacities in the Murmansk region.
An example of what a small settlement can turn into is the village of Belokamenka, where the Center for the Construction of Large-Tonnage Offshore Structures (TsSKMS) of OOO NOVATEK-Murmansk is located. This is an enterprise that actually builds floating plants that are sent by water to their place of work and are permanently installed there in shallow water. The possibilities of the new production are wider than the own needs of the company that built it.
In total, in the Arctic zone in recent years, the implementation of 715 new investment projects (both raw materials, production, and infrastructure) has begun, with a total volume of 1.6 trillion rubles.
Defense and security
And fourthly, the Arctic is the most important line of defense for Russia. During the Cold War, the possibility of a massive US missile and air strike across the Arctic forced the USSR to develop military infrastructure from Murmansk to Chukotka. Today, the growing tension in relations with the United States and NATO makes us again pay attention to the Northern strategic direction.
Moreover, with the accession of Finland to NATO, the strategic importance of the Murmansk region increases significantly. It becomes necessary not only to strengthen the Northern Fleet, air defense systems and aviation components, but also to build up the grouping of the Ground Forces. If only for this reason, as the Governor of the Murmansk region Andrey Chibis noted, “the number of residents of these cities and towns will soon increase significantly: these are sailors, submariners, marines, motorized riflemen, tankers, pilots and many others.”
Build a self-sufficient economy
Ambitious plans and short deadlines for their implementation require significant funds from the federal budget. However, at the meeting, Putin stressed the need for research and extrabudgetary funds. Moreover, the principle of creating a self-sufficient economy that would be able to maintain its own functioning and ensure the development of the territory was initially laid down in the program for the development of the Arctic zone.
Alexey Chekunkov, Minister for the Development of the Far East and the Arctic, explained how this approach works using the example of TsSKMS: “A unique plant, where the status of a resident of the advanced development territory was received not only by the project for the construction of the plant, but also by contractors ... construction companies registered in the region , and the regional budget received an additional 4 billion rubles of revenue in two years.”
Thus, the Arctic zone over time should become not only a recipient of budget investments, but also a source of income for both the Arctic regions and the federal budget.
This article originally appeared in Russian at vz.ru