Open passage across North Pole, Russia urges

Russia’s new ambassador to Canada told the Winnipeg Free Press it’s time to work on opening the “Arctic Bridge” to ship goods across the North Pole by sea.

“Before it was just a dream – the northern dream, if you will,” Georgiy Mamedov said. “But now its time is coming.”

He said the transportation link would be the most cost-effective and time-efficient route between North America and northern Europe.

Mamedov said the Russian government is already boosting infrastructure in the northern port of Murmansk to prepare its end of the “bridge.”