In the meantime it has also been announced that during the coming year, Russia will add another, sixth, nuclear icebreaker to serve the Northern Sea Route. The icebreaking ship is called Soviet Union. Asked if there were any plans to change its name the Head of Atomflot's office in Moscow, Stanislav Golovinsky said on Thursday,"No, we are not changing its name".
25 November: Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has signed off on a plan to build a $3.6 billion Arctic pipeline to new oil fields that could produce a sizable share of Russia's current output by the end of the decade.(Moscow News)