Russia and India may sign an intergovernmental memorandum on cooperation on the Northern Sea Route by the end of 2026, First Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov said in an interview with Interfax.
The two sides intend to organize their first joint pilot voyage in 2027. In the longer term, Russian-Indian freight traffic along the Arctic route could reach 5 mln metric tons a year.
For India, the Northern Sea Route is of interest primarily as an additional maritime corridor for trade with Russia and other markets. Negotiations are already underway within a dedicated working group, and Rosatom is working out the specific terms of shipping with Indian companies.
Russia aims to bring the total cargo traffic along the Northern Sea Route to approximately 100 mln tons by 2030. Earlier, Rosatom CEO Alexey Likhachev said that India and China could account for up to 20 mln tons of transit cargo. That means the potential 5 mln tons of Indian traffic is already a noticeable share of the planned international flow, but for now it remains only an estimate, analysts note.