MOSCOW, March 14. The United States is critically inferior to Russia in the number of heavy icebreakers, said the head of the Northern Command of the American Armed Forces (NORTHCOM) Gregory Guillot at a hearing in the Senate.
Senator from Maine Angus King asked the general to confirm the information that the United States has only one serviceable heavy icebreaker against about 40 Russian ones.
“It’s true, senator. <…> We are critically outnumbered (of the icebreaker fleet. — Ed.),” admitted the military man.
According to Guillot, even taking into account the ordered ships, the US icebreaker fleet will still be significantly inferior to the Russian one.
““This limits our freedom of maneuver in the region,” the officer emphasized.
In January, President Vladimir Putin took part in the laying of the nuclear icebreaker Leningrad. He noted the uniqueness and size of the Russian icebreaker fleet. The head of state added that icebreakers give Russia a colossal competitive advantage in the economic development of the Arctic.