The newest Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker “ARKTIKA” is the lead ship of the Project 22220 (LC-60YA) class. It was launched on 16 June 2016 in St. Petersburg and commissioned on 21 October 2020 in Murmansk.
The main tasks of the icebreakers of this project is to keep the Northern Sea Route open and to conduct expeditions to the Arctic. Thanks to its variable draft, this icebreaker can work efficiently in the shallow estuaries of Siberian rivers and on the Northern Sea Route, replacing the ships of the Taimyr and previous Arctic classes, respectively. The “ARKTIKA” is the largest and most powerful icebreaker in the world, with a length of 173,3 m a width of 34 m, this vessel is capable to keep the routes open for tankers with displacement up to 100,000 tons. The icebreaker of this project will be able to navigate through ice with a thickness of three meter.