Washington pays insufficient attention to the strategy for the development of the Arctic zone, which has led to the lag of the US behind Russia in the number of icebreakers, the head of the US Department of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said.
According to him, the Arctic is a critically important region of the world, which has recently become increasingly important.
At the same time, the current state of the US icebreaker fleet leaves much to be desired. “We are sadly far behind with our fleet,” said Mayorkas.
He recalled that currently, the US has two icebreakers, which are “rapidly becoming obsolete.” Moreover, Russia and China have several dozen icebreakers.
In 2020, under the Donald Trump administration, the US embarked on a program to create an icebreaker fleet to ensure US interests in the Arctic and Antarctic. The plan was to build three heavy icebreakers, as well as several medium ones.
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