俄中合作新领域 副总理会晤北极

choi

白桦, 俄中合作新领域 副总理会晤北极. VOA Chinese, Feb 27, 2016.
www.voachinese.com/content/russia-china-20160227/3210764.html

Note:
(a) photo caption: "俄罗斯长期经略北极地区。圣彼得堡南北极博物馆展出的示意图，俄国外交家格拉西莫夫500年前首次提出了从欧洲到中国的北极航道设想。（美国之音白桦拍摄）"
(i) Museum of Arctic and Antarctic Museum, St Petersburg. undated (state-owned).
http://www.saint-petersburg.com/museums/arctic-antarctic-museum/
(the photos ay the center of home page change every few seconds)
(ii) Northeast Passage
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northeast_Passage
(includes the Northern Sea Route [qv; defined by Russian law as from Kara Sea to Bering Strait)

Quote:

"The Portuguese navigator David Melgueiro - according to some sources - would have made the first Northeast Passage complete crossing, from east to west, in 1660.

"The motivation to navigate the Northeast passage was initially economic. In Russia, the idea of a possible seaway connecting the Atlantic and the Pacific was first put forward by the diplomat [Dmitry] Gerasimov in 1525.

There is a separate Northwest Passage.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Passage

My guess is both passages are from Europeans' standpoint as the start, whose destination would be China (less likely: Japan).

(b) "俄罗斯副总理罗格津 * * * 试图向中国证明使用北极航道从事商业运输具有各种优势。他星期五在上议院联邦委员会发表演讲时说，只有中国这样的经济巨人才能保证北极航道的货物运输量"
(i) Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin (for defense industry)

Currently Russian government has a prime minister, a first deputy prime minister, and seven deputy prime ministers (first deputy prime minister is not one of them).
(ii) Russia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russia
(table in the right column: Legislature: Federal Assembly: • Upper house  Federation Council +  • Lower house  State Duma)

(c) "中国曾在2013年派出货轮首航北极航道。航行时间比使用传统的马六甲海峡和苏伊士运河减少了9天。"

With cheap oil and China slowdown, many container ships idle and shipping rates tanked. What is important these days is not shipping duration.

(d) "由于土耳其遏制至关重要的博斯普鲁斯和达达尼尔海峡，罗格津承认，同土耳其交恶后，北极航道就成为俄罗斯通向世界大洋的唯一水道。"

白桦 is dead wrong.
(i) Gulf of Finland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_of_Finland
("The gulf is usually frozen from late November to late April; the freezing starts in the east and gradually proceeds to the west. Complete freezing is usually reached by late January, and it might not occur in mild winters. There are frequent strong western winds causing waves, surges of water and floods")
(ii) Murmansk
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murmansk
(The port of Murmansk remains ice-free year round due to the warm North Atlantic Current; is home port to Atomflot, the world's only fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers)
(A) Port of Murmansk: "The port ranks fourth in Russia in terms of processed goods and the second largest in the north-west of Russia (after the port of St Petersburg)"  en.wikipedia.org
(B) pronunciation:
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Murmansk
(iii) Vladivostok  海參崴
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladivostok
(The port is ice-free all year round)

Russia acquired Vladivostok in the 1860 Convention of Peking.
(iv) port
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port
(section 3.4 Warm-water port)

Vostochny Port is sixty nautical miles east of Vladivostok. View the map in
China ports - Vladivostok-Vostochny. Sakhalin Shipping Co, undated.
www.sasco.ru/en-China-ports---Vladivostok-Vostochny-i62

(e) 北极理事会  Arctic Council