Putin: Northern Sea Route to link Europe, Asia
© RIA Novosti. Alexey Nikolskiy

Putin: Northern Sea Route to link Europe, Asia

Russia needs to develop its transport infrastructure, President Vladimir Putin said in his annual state-of-the-nation address. "We will continue to upgrade our transport infrastructure and expand major logistic centers, such as the Azov-Black Sea and the Murmansk transport hubs, modern ports in the Baltic Sea and the Russian Far East. We will consolidate the system of interregional air transport, including in northern and Arctic regions. We will review in detail the situation with inland waterways and river routes during a forthcoming State Council meeting," President Putin noted.

He said the Northern Sea Route should link Europe and the Asia Pacific region. "We are planning to spread the free-port status of Vladivostok to key Far Eastern harbors, as requested by entrepreneurs working in this strategic Russian region, in order to make the Northern Sea Route more competitive," President Putin stressed.