The Rosmorport icebreakers, Murmansk and Vladivostok, have arrived in Murmansk for high-seas trials in the western Arctic, RIA Novosti reports, quoting the corporate press service.

The icebreakers' tow winches will soon be tested at Ship Repair Plant No. 35 in Kola Bay. "After these tests, the ships will sail to the western Arctic where their ice resistance and equipment reliability will be assessed in various ice conditions under a program of ice tests that has been coordinated with the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping," the report says.

Experts from the Vyborg Shipyard, the Krylov State Research Center, the Central Research & Design Institute of the Maritime Fleet, the Russian Arctic National Park and the Russian Maritime Register of Shipping will board the ships in Murmansk.

Icebreakers of this class can plough through 1.5-meter thick ice and are designed to escort large ships, to tow them through ice floes and in ice-free water, to extinguish fires aboard floating facilities and to assist ships in distress. Each icebreaker has a maximum displacement of 14,300 metric tons, a length of 120 meters and a 27.5-meter beam. They can reach a maximum speed of 17 knots in ice-free water.