Russia plans to build a modern communications system and a chain of emergency maritime assistance centres along its Arctic coast, dpa quoted a minister as saying Thursday. Eight rescue centres connected by state-of-the-art communications links will be built along the coast of northern Russia to assist increasing international ship traffic, and to monitor the region's environment. "Economic development is impossible without reliable solutions to safety issues," said Emergency Situations Minister Sergei Shoigu, at an international Arctic conference in the northern city of Arkhangelsk. The safety network is part of an ongoing Russian government programme to develop energy resources in the Arctic Ocean, and to promote increased use of the formerly difficult-to-navigate north-eastern passage ship route, conference speakers said. Natural Resources Minister Yury Trutnev said retreating pack ice caused by global warming has now made ship travel along the northern coast a commercially viable way to move freight between Europe and Asia. Use of ice breakers to keep the route open during the winter months may become unnecessary if the warming trends and polar ice cap shrinkage continues, he said. In August, Russia's national oil company Rosneft signed a half-trillion-dollar deal with energy company Exxon to develop Arctic oil and gas fields. Moscow had laid claim to huge areas of the Arctic Sea, including seabed near the North Pole. The Kremlin on Tuesday announced it would increase its military presence in the Arctic.
