Patrushev pointed to the increased strategic importance of the Arctic for the Russian Federation

Against the background of the current military and political situation, the strategic importance of the Arctic for Russia is increasing. This was stated on March 26 by Nikolai Patrushev, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation, Chairman of the Maritime Board, at a joint meeting of the commissions of the State Council of the Russian Federation within the framework of the international Arctic forum "The Arctic — the territory of Dialogue".

"Given the current military and political situation, the Arctic is increasingly gaining strategic importance for Russia, both for strengthening our country's international position and for its internal development," he said.

According to Patrushev, accelerating the economic and infrastructural development of the Arctic zone and preserving Russia's sovereignty over the territory of the region are priorities for national interests, as well as security in the Arctic.

Patrushev singled out the development of resources and spaces, the development of the Northern Sea Route as a national transport highway, the construction of an icebreaking fleet, as well as the organization of scientific research and environmental safety in the Arctic region.

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Earlier, on March 24, Mikhail Kovalchuk, president of the Kurchatov Institute National Research Center (NRC), said that the development of the Arctic should be comprehensive, since this region is of strategic importance to Russia. Kovalchuk noted that it should be remembered that the region has huge reserves of a wide variety of resources, ranging from biological resources to biofuels. In addition, it has a very fragile ecology, so space exploration should be carried out "extremely delicately and correctly."