Baltic Shipyard press release – Translated by Naval News
The Baltic Shipyard (part of USC) hosted the launching ceremony of the third universal series nuclear icebreaker of Project 22220, the “Yakutia“. The order to launch the icebreaker was given by Russian President Vladimir Putin (via video conference).
The launching ceremony was attended by President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Victoria Abramchenko, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation – Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation Denis Manturov, General Director of United Shipbuilding Corporation Alexei Rakhmanov, General Director of Rosatom State Corporation Alexei Likhachev and many others. The honor of becoming the “godmother” of the icebreaker was given to the Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Victoria Abramchenko.
“Today we have two major events at once, which are significant for domestic shipbuilding and our icebreaker fleet, indeed for the whole country. The state flag of Russia is being hoisted on the new universal nuclear icebreaker Ural. Another powerful modern nuclear-powered icebreaker, the Yakutia, is ready to be launched at the facilities of the Baltic Shipyard in St. Petersburg. I thank our shipbuilders, nuclear scientists, designers, workers, engineers, all specialists involved in the creation of these high-tech, unique ships for their great work, for their professionalism, for their willingness to develop to achieve the most ambitious goals.”
Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation
Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation (also Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation) Denis Manturov stated that before the end of the year Rosatom must conclude a contract with the Baltic Shipyard for the construction of two Project 22220 icebreakers.
The ship was then christened by Victoria Abramchenko. As the godmother of the new ship, Victoria Abramchenko stressed that Russian nuclear icebreakers are the national pride of Russia: “As the deputy prime minister responsible for the environment, I can not help but point out the high 22220 environmental standards. At high latitudes, special attention to environmental protection is required. For the Arctic, a very important factor is the amount of emissions into the atmosphere. In this series of icebreakers, they are drastically reduced.”
After the completion of Yakutia‘s launching, the ceremony of hoisting the state flag of the Russian Federation began on the second series nuclear icebreaker built by Ural Baltic Shipyard.
In total, the construction of 6 ships in a series of Project 22220 nuclear icebreakers is planned. The first two vessels of Project 22220 – the lead icebreaker of Project Arktika and the first series icebreaker Sibir, which will be handed over to the customer by Baltic Shipyards in 2020 and 2022, respectively, are already in operation for escorting ships on the Northern Sea Route. The fourth series icebreaker, Chukotka, was laid down at Baltic Shipyard in December 2020.
The nuclear-powered icebreakers of Project 22220 replace the nuclear-powered icebreakers of Projects 10520 and 10580, which have already reached the end of their service lives or will be phased out in the coming years.
