Putin to Hold Video Conference on Arctic Zone Development, Transarctic Corridor

MOSCOW, April 23. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold a video conference with the government on Thursday on the development of the Arctic zone and the Transarctic Transport Corridor. Yury Trutnev, deputy chairman of the government and presidential envoy to Russia's Far East, Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Saveliyev, Rosatom head Alexey Likhachev, Andrey Chibis, chairman of the State Council's Commission on the Northern Sea Route and the Arctic, governor of the Murmansk Region, will report. Some current issues will also be discussed at the meeting. About the development of the Arctic The Maritime Board and the government are preparing a comprehensive project "Development of the Arctic and the Transarctic Transport Corridor." According to Nikolay Patrushev, presidential aide and head of the Maritime Board, the project will contribute to the integrated development of the Arctic zone of Russia and the Far East, the growth of the cargo base, as well as domestic, international and transit transportation of goods and passengers along the coast. The comprehensive project will be presented by the end of April and reviewed at a strategic session with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin in June 2026, said Regional Development Minister Alexey Chekunkov. In October 2025, the government approved comprehensive plans for the development of the Arctic. At least 5% of financing for the development of the territories is provided for their implementation. Russia's Arctic zone In 2014, Putin signed a decree "On the Land Territories of the Arctic Zone of the Russian Federation." According to this document, the Russian part of the Arctic includes the Murmansk Region, the Nenets, Chukchi and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Regions, the Belomorsky, Kemsky and Loukhsky districts of Karelia, seven cities and districts of the Arkhangelsk Region (including the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago and the cities of Arkhangelsk, Novodvinsk, Severodvinsk), the Vorkuta city district of the Komi Republic, 13 districts of Yakutia, territories of the Norilsk city district, the Taimyr Dolgano-Nenetsky Municipal District and the Turukhansky District of the Krasnoyarsk Region. The Arctic zone also includes "lands and islands located in the Arctic Ocean, which were declared the territory of the USSR by a decree of the Presidium of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR dated April 15, 1926," the internal sea waters adjacent to these territories, the territorial sea, the exclusive economic zone and Russia's continental shelf. As Chekunkov said in May 2025, the population of the Arctic zone of Russia stood at 2.4 million people in 2024. At the same time, 7.5% of Russia's GDP and 11% of its exports were produced in the Russian Arctic. The territories of four states border the Russian Arctic zone: the United States, Canada, Norway, and Denmark, which owns Greenland. About the Transarctic Corridor The Transarctic Transport Corridor is a route connecting the eastern and western parts of Russia, the ports of St. Petersburg and Vladivostok through the North Seas, the ports of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk, designed to connect the world's industrial, agricultural, energy centers and consumer markets with a shorter, safer and economically profitable route. The Transarctic Corridor is an evolution of the Great Northern Sea Route project, implemented within the framework of the national project "Efficient Transport System".