January 17, 2026: Last December the Buran, a Russian ship carrying Liquid Natural Gas/LNG, found itself stuck in the ice. The Buran was travelling in the Arctic Ocean along the Northern Sea Route to the Utrenny terminal at the Gulf of Ob in northwestern Russia. The Buran was unable to move through the unusually thick ice in the Gulf of Ob. After a few weeks of Russian icebreakers breaking up the thick ice, the Buran was able to make its way to the port of Murmansk on the Kola Peninsula.

Buran is one of four ships that carry LNG from LNG plants along the northern coast which liquefy natural gas, stores it and then transfers it to LNG tankers for shipment, mainly to China. This all takes place in Russian and Chinese territorial waters. This avoids interference by American warships looking to seize sanctioned ships and their cargoes.

The sanctions have made it nearly impossible for Russia to build more tankers. For example, a floating dock built in Turkey for Russia cannot be delivered because of the sanctions. Russia does have a fleet of nuclear powered icebreakers, which try to keep the northern route open. But the winter of 2025 saw ice so thick that even the icebreakers had a hard time keeping the northern route open.

Harsher sanctions against Russian oil exports and seizing tankers covertly carrying Russian oil have made it more difficult for Russia to export petroleum and LNG. Russia has the world's longest Arctic shoreline and has long been the largest producer and user of icebreaking ships. Currently there are 179 icebreakers in service worldwide, with 29 being built and 35 on order. This degree of activity not only replaces older icebreakers nearing retirement age but is also increasing the worldwide icebreaker fleet. Russia operates 85 icebreakers, the largest number of any nation.

While Russia is the largest builder and user of icebreakers, they owe much to Finland. Since World War II Finland has led the world in developing more efficient icebreaker designs. One icebreaker innovation Finland did not develop was the armed combat icebreaker. Russia has already built one armed icebreaker, the 9,000-ton Papanin, with two more under construction and another planned.

The Papanin began sea trials in July 2024 and joined the Northern Fleet, near the Arctic Circle in 2024. Construction of the Papanin began in 2017. Armament consists of a 76mm gun, four 12.7mm machine-guns and two 30mm multi barrel Close In Weapons/ CIWS for defense against missiles or small surface vessels. There is also space onboard for Uran anti-ship and Kalibr land attack missiles.

The Papanins have a top speed of 33 kilometers an hour and a max range of 19,000 kilometers at a speed of 19 kilometers an hour. These ships are designed to break through ice up to 1.7 meters thick. Maximum endurance on internal fuel and crew supplies is 70 days. The ship crew is 60 with accommodations for another 50 specialists and observers. A helicopter is carried with a hanger to shelter the helicopter from harsh Arctic weather. There are also two small Raptor class patrol boats that can carry 23 people or just the crew of three and over a ton of supplies or equipment. Some small drones are also carried. There is room for adding sonar and anti-submarine torpedoes. Papanin is similar to current unarmed Norwegian and Canadian icebreakers.

Papanin is armed to protect traffic on the 5,600 kilometer long Russian Northern Sea Route that links East Asia with Northern Europe. This Arctic sea lane passes along the exclusively Russian northern coast. Russia wants to maintain control of this corridor even though large parts of it are in international seas, outside Russian coastal waters. Russia also has several land bases along this route. These bases are controlled by the Russian Northern Fleet with over 10,000 troops, more than a hundred aircraft and several dozen warships and submarines to protect the Northern Sea Route.

As of 2025 the Northern Sea Route can accommodate over 500 merchant ships a year and that capacity is steadily increasing. Because of the ice and Arctic storms, this route can be treacherous. Safety is achieved if the Russians can maintain enough land bases and ports along the route to monitor weather and sea conditions and provide ports if commercial ships must seek temporary refuge. The Northern Sea Route cuts the time required by a third for ships carrying cargo between East Asia and Northern Europe. China and Russia are two major users of this route and Russia wants to increase the safety and security of this route to encourage heavier use. Russia does not charge a fee to use the Northern Sea Route even though Russia has spent billions of dollars to build and maintain this route.