Russia under sanctions pressure needs to pay special attention to projects and plans related to the development of the Arctic zone, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.

“Now, given all sorts of restrictions and sanctions pressure, we need to pay special attention to all projects and plans related to the Arctic. Do not postpone them, do not shift them,” Putin said at a meeting on the development of Russia’s Arctic zone via videoconference on Wednesday.

According to him, in an attempt to curb the development of the Russian Federation, it is necessary to respond with the development of projects, first of all, in the social sphere.

“Hundreds of our citizens live and work in the Arctic territories, almost all areas of our country’s national security are concentrated,” the Russian president emphasized.

As the head of state emphasized, Russia has all the resources to find alternative solutions to solve the difficulties that have arisen as a result of non-fulfillment by foreign companies of their obligations on logistics in the Arctic zone.

“You know that now, as a result of actions of unfriendly countries, a number of transportation, logistics chains have been disrupted, some foreign companies do not fully or at all fulfill their contractual obligations. Of course, in the current situation, this creates certain difficulties for us, but we have all the resources and all the opportunities to quickly find alternative solutions,” Putin said.

Also, he said, there are all conditions to further strengthen the country’s independence from external factors in the long term. “It is an extremely important task, for this purpose all responsible agencies involved in the Arctic need to competently and quickly readjust their work, first of all, in order to uninterruptedly provide the residents of the Arctic territories, shift workers, enterprises and social facilities of the region with food and medicines, fuel, construction materials, equipment,” the Russian president said.

Moreover, he reminded, the period of “northern importation” will start very soon. “It should pass clearly and organized, on schedule, without failures. The Arctic must be supplied with all necessary goods and services, and in full,” Putin emphasized.

The President noted that this is fundamentally important in order to guarantee price stability in the Arctic settlements. “It is required to promptly prepare a list and schedule of ships involved in the importation, to ensure their priority departure from ports, as well as to use air transport more actively,” the head of state said.