Northern Sea Route. The nuclear icebreaker Sibir has, for the first time ever, escorted an Arc7-class vessel using the so-called “close-coupled towing” method. “This task was professionally very demanding, as it required us to account for the design specifics of both the icebreaker and the vessel, and ensure flawless coordination between the two crews,” said Yakov Antonov, Director General of Atomflot, Rosatom’s nuclear fleet operator. Given the exceptionally late season for navigation in the eastern Arctic sector, preparations for the escort operation began well in advance. Icebreaker captain Konstantin Kelarev and his colleagues rehearsed the procedure on an ice navigation simulator. Currently, eight nuclear icebreakers are operating on the Northern Sea Route. In 2025, 23 transit voyages were completed via the NSR, with the volume of cargo transit increasing by 3.82% to reach a record 3.2 million tonnes.