The State Transport Policy for Development of the NSR in the USSR and the Russian Federation in the 20th Century

The article examines the development and use of the Northern Sea Route (hereinafter: the NSR) during the Soviet era. It also considers various trends in the development of the state transport policy in the world and significant aspects of its assessment. The above-mentioned transport route is significant from a geopolitical point of view. Although the USSR failed to realize the commercial potential of the NSR and its year-round operation, it made significant progress in the development of the NSR to achieve the political and strategic goals of the Soviet Union. The article analyzes the essential aspects of Soviet and Russian transport policy in the XX century. The author argues that transport innovations caused by the energy crises of the 1970s and 1980s and related environmental problems largely bypassed the Soviet economy due to the period of stagnation. The author concludes that if the USSR had kept pace with modern trends in technology and the Soviet Union had not collapsed, the NSR could have become a self-sustaining route and the goal of year-round navigation on the NSR would have been achieved in Soviet times in the 20th century.