The Arctic Debrief:

In this edition:

• Russia continues to strengthen its Arctic presence;
• Big trouble in little Greenland; and
• Western sanctions and route changes for Russia's shadow fleet

Latest Developments

Russia continues to strengthen its Arctic presence

Russia continues strengthening its presence Arctic with the government undertaking efforts to modernize weather stations across the region. Numerous stations have received funding to modernize equipment and build additional facilities.

The stations are used to track weather conditions including data on pressure, temperature, humidity, and wind. These facilities could serve a dual-use purpose as the data they collect can be used for the military.

The government claims these efforts are necessary to make Russia’s Northern Sea Route (NSR) a viable trade route between Europe and Asia. Russian President Vladimir Putin personally spoke about the need to develop the Arctic trade route to secure the country’s economic future. Specifically, China has been working with Russia to make the route viable as it makes it easier to access raw materials including liquefied natural gas and rare earth minerals.

The main benefit of investing in the NSR is significantly reducing travel time between Russia and its partners in Asia, but also being able to avoid traveling by NATO countries which have increased their surveillance and patrolling efforts in recent years. This has been especially important for Russia’s shadow fleet of tankers that have been the target of western sanctions.

In other, but related, news, Russia has added a newly launched nuclear submarine which is set to join the Russian Navy’s Pacific fleet. The submarine was built in Severodvinsk, Arkhangelsk region, in Northern Russia.

The submarine, named Khabarovsk, is a nuclear-powered missile cruiser submarine which is designed to carry six Poseidon torpedo missiles, which are capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

The Khabarovsk is part of Russia’s attempt to modernize its naval fleet and improve its long-range strike capabilities. This is in part due to Russia’s struggle to maintain its aging fleet of Soviet-era vessels which are becoming increasingly difficult to repair.

Canada aims to strengthen national defence and develop relations with Arctic allies

Canada's federal government released Budget 2025 on Nov. 4, 2025, which proposes significant investments in defence and national security amid tensions with the United States and growing threat from China and Russia. For comparison, the total spending allocated to defence in Budget 2024 amounted to $10.6 billion over five years, whereas Budget 2025 would see a total expenditure of $62.8 billion over five years.

Budget 2025 aims to “rebuild, rearm and reinvest” in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) with $81.8 billion over five years on a cash basis, starting in 2025-26. This includes 9$ billion in 2025-26 that was previously announced earlier this June.

Canada's defence policy, titled "Our North, strong and free," highlighted the need for the country to increase its presence in the North and to acquire capabilities to defend its Arctic territory.

Some of the investments include:

• One of the largest investments would see $20.4 billion over five years allocated to recruiting and retaining CAF members. This includes pay raises and health care spending for the CAF;
• $19 billion over five years would go towards repairing and sustaining existing CAF capabilities, as well as investing in new defence infrastructure. Much of the infrastructure will be focused on the Arctic region. For example, the funding will go towards building roads, airports, seaports, and facilities to help defend the country's Arctic region.
• The CAF, Department of National Defence, and the Communications Security Establishment would receive $10.9 billion in funding to upgrade digital infrastructure and for cybersecurity operations.
• The government is looking to invest $17.9 billion over five years in new military capabilities to procure equipment. This includes spending to secure logistics, light utility and armoured vehicles, counter-drone technology, long-range precision strike capabilities, and domestic ammunition production.

The federal government also allocated $6.6 billion over five years, starting in 2025-26, to the recently announced Defence Industrial Strategy, which aims to develop domestic manufacturing capabilities to procure more military equipment from Canadian companies. The strategy is set to be released "before Christmas," according to government sources.

The Defence Investment Agency, which aims to speed up defence procurement, is set to receive $30.8 million over five years, starting in 2026-27. The agency will focus on procurement projects that are valued at $100 million or higher, according to the document. This includes the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project and “other critical capabilities that the CAF requires.”

An additional $6.2 billion would be allocated to expand Canada’s defence partnerships. According to the budget document, this includes funding to provide military assistance to Ukraine and to expand military training with NATO allies.

Western sanctions and route changes for Russia's shadow fleet

As Western nations continue to sanction vessels apart of Russia's "shadow fleet," those same vessels have to avoid using the Northern Sea Route as Arctic ice shuts down the path.

The vessels have been delivering crude oil and liquefied natural gas to buyers in Asia using Russia's Arctic sea route. The ships, although not meeting the requirements for safe passage through the Northern Sea Route, have been using the warmer summer months to make deliveries. Increasingly cold weather conditions have made the route nearly impossible to use for ships that were not designed to travel through sea ice.

Over the past several years, similar vessels have been trapped in Arctic ice and required Russia to send nuclear icebreakers to rescue crews. However, due to limited resources the operations take a long time and are expansive.

Meanwhile, Canada announced sanctions against 13 individuals and 11 entities, some of which are involved in manufacturing drones for the Russian military. Sanctions also targeted companies assisting the Russian state in cyber operations and energy corporations. Additionally, Canada put 100 new vessels involved in Russia's attempts to circumvent sanctions to sell its natural gas and oil products.

These sanctions were announced on Nov. 12, matching a sanctions package announced by the United States, European Union and the United Kingdom.

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