During the Arctic Circle Assembly in Iceland last week, Anton Vasiliev, former Russian Ambassador to Iceland and Moscow’s Senior Arctic Official, was crystal clear on Russia’s relationship with the West versus the East;
“China has not sanctioned against us”.
A quote that basically sums up Russia’s current relationship with the West.
So when founder of China Investment Research in London, Henry Tillman is talking about the three possible Polar Silk Roads as we know them today – it is all about the East and Russia.
“Over the past two years, investments has gone East and South, not West”, Tillman says to High North News.
“Liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Yamal (Russian Siberia) is now produced at a fraction of Western prices. Then shipped to Asia”.
In short; The Polar Silk Road is being developed towards the East, leaving the Arctic West behind. And development in Russia is booming as Russia is building five nuclear Arktika class icebreakers – which will form the basis of Russia’s nuclear icebreaking fleet – and investing in new technology to meet the demands.
“There is a business shift from the West to the East with major investments under the umbrella of The Polar Silk Road. We are seeing a giant infrastructure initiative on both land and sea from China and several North Asian countries towards the East, with a focus on increased Arctic LNG production”, Tillman states. These initiatives are primarily funded by China and Russia, who through these initiatives conquer new international market shares at – amongst others – the energy and trade market. Läs artikel