The volume of freight traffic on the Northern Sea Route has suffered a six-fold slump since the 1990s, Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said at a meeting of the Presidium of the Expert Council on the Arctic and Antarctic, RIA Novosti reports.

"Early in the 1990s, it [the Northern Sea Route] saw up to eight million metric tons of cargo. Now, freight volume has decreased by six times. Of the more than 50 ports and port stations, more than a half are no longer in operation," Valentina Matviyenko said. She complained that the implementation of Arctic development objectives has not been entirely effective.

"Let's be honest, the existing legislative base is still far from meeting the objectives of the comprehensive development of Arctic territories," the Federation Council Speaker said.