Latest Articles about Transit
![](/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Volga-Don-Canal-640x480.jpg)
Volga-Don Canal, Last Great Stalin Project, Desperately Needs Updating or Replacement
The Volga-Don Canal, the last of the great Stalinist-era construction projects, which involved the use of German prisoners of war and Soviet GULAG prisoners to move more than 150 million cubic meters of earth and pour more than 3 million tons of concrete, marked its... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/BTC-pipeline-640x360.jpg)
Clashes on Azerbaijan-Armenia Border Threaten Regional Transport and Energy Routes
On July 12, Armenian and Azerbaijani forces exchanged fire along the state border in the Tovuz region of Azerbaijan and Armenia’s Tavush province, resulting in several days of intense cross-border clashes involving heavy artillery exchanges (Mod.gov.az, July 12). The two countries have been under a... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Snow-Dragon-2-640x360.jpg)
Second Chinese Icebreaker Heads to Northern Sea Route, Shifting Power Balance in Arctic
In mid-July, China dispatched its Snow Dragon-2 icebreaker to the Northern Sea Route (NSR). This action marks yet another step toward realizing Beijing’s longstanding plans to displace Moscow as the dominant power in the Arctic as well as to establish Chinese preeminence on that east-west... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Eurasia-trains-640x425.jpg)
Coronavirus Pandemic Provides Surprising Momentum to Trans-Eurasian Rail Transportation
The COVID-19 pandemic generated many challenges for trans-Eurasian transportation corridors as borders were shut down, factories closed, and supply chains thrown into disarray. The disease outbreak and subsequent quarantine conditions did, however, offer new opportunities to railway container transportation along the Trans-Caspian route, also known... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Project-10510-icebreaker-640x427.jpg)
Russia’s Icebreaker Buildup: A Mixture of Geo-Economic and Military-Political Calculations
On July 6, the Russian shipbuilding complex Zvezda, LLC started construction on a Project 10510 (Lider) icebreaker. Upon its completion (scheduled for 2027), the first ship of this class, named the Rossiya and commissioned by the Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation (Rosatom), will become the... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan-railroad-mift-uz-640x384.jpg)
China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan Road-Rail Connection Launched Amid Violent Border Clashes
China and Uzbekistan have opened a new transport corridor between one other, which could eventually form a key link in a much shorter inter-continental route connecting China to the Middle East and Europe. Tashkent trusts that the new corridor complements rather than competes with already-established... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Rail-Baltica-construction-640x427.jpg)
Rail Baltica Moves Ahead but Suffers From Major Construction Delays
The multinational Rail Baltica project, which had been in the planning and design stages since 2014, finally entered the phase of actual construction of the railway line and related infrastructure objects at the beginning of last year (Railbaltica.org, accessed June 30). Work is already underway... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Novorossiisk-port-640x373.jpg)
Russia’s Black Sea Ports in Trouble After Decades of Neglect
When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, Moscow lost many of its commercial ports on the Black Sea to the then-newly independent Ukraine and Georgia. That loss forced Moscow to reroute cargo flows and is one of the reasons that Vladimir Putin attacked Ukraine and... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Ukraine-river-drought-640x360.jpg)
Drought Threatens Ukraine, Its Relations with Russia, and Regional Cooperation Plans
Water levels in Ukraine’s rivers and reservoirs are the lowest they have ever been since records began to be kept in 1885, threatening the health and well-being of Ukrainians and the incomes of Ukrainian industry and the government (Dsnews.ua, April 30; see EDM, June 1),... MORE
![](/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Hyundai-LNG-carrier-construction-640x360.gif)
The Asian Tigers in Russia’s Arctic: Unforeseen Favorites?
A number of countries in the Asia-Pacific region are looking at the Arctic as a potential engine to drive dramatic transformations in their most strategically important economic sectors, including energy, transportation, as well as research and development (Pro-arctic.ru, April 24). Aside from the three Asian... MORE