The Northern Fleet began training to protect the Northern Sea Route

The Russian Northern Fleet has begun a command and staff exercise, during which various options for managing the forces and troops of the fleet in protecting the sovereignty of the Russian Federation in the waters of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) will be tested. About it informed Telegram channel of the Ministry of Defense.

“Within a few days, the exercise will work out the deployment of the Arctic Expeditionary Ship Group of the Northern Fleet and the redeployment of part of the coastal troops to protect the communications of the Northern Sea Route, the protection and defense of important objects,” the message says.

In addition, the conditions and possible areas for the use of the Northern Fleet forces in the Arctic sea zone will be studied, as well as exercises to block and destroy sabotage and reconnaissance groups. The exercise is led by Fleet Commander Admiral Alexander Moiseev and is part of the annual training cycle for the headquarters of the forces and troops of the Northern Fleet.

The training will be attended by 20 warships, submarines and support vessels, more than 8,000 military personnel, five aircraft and up to 50 pieces of military equipment.

Northern Sea Route with a length of 5600 km runs from Murmansk to Vladivostok along the Russian coast of the seas of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans. Navigation in the eastern sector of the Northern Sea Route (from Taimyr to the Bering Strait) is impossible in winter without icebreaking assistance, the ice thickness there reaches 3 m. In 2021, the cargo traffic on the NSR amounted to 34.9 million tons. up to 1627 per year, and cargo traffic increased by 11%. In 2022, 34 million tons of cargo were transported along the NSR.