The House must act to cut Putin’s Arctic gas lifeline

On Siberia’s edge, cranes rise from tundra at Sabetta on the Yamal Peninsula. From there, tankers carry Russian gas out of the Arctic towards European ports and shipyards.

One is the Boris Davydov, which carried gas from Yamal to Dunkirk before sailing to Denmark for servicing at the Fayard shipyard. Once maintenance ends, it can begin the journey again.

Follow the ship and a whole system becomes visible. Foreign-owned tankers carry gas through the Arctic. European ports that receive them. European shipyards keep them operating. Each stage depends on support beyond Russia.

Yamal’s size disguises a narrow weakness: The project relies on specially designed 14 tankers that can force their way through Arctic ice when other carriers cannot. Without access to this fleet, its winter exports would halt almost entirely.

Russia has reopened Arctic sites and ports and expanded cooperation with China along the Northern Sea Route. Yamal is part of the infrastructure. Putin launched its first tanker in 2017 as evidence of Russia’s growing Arctic power. Every cargo delivered and every tanker........

© The Hill