MOSCOW, August 28. /TASS/. Regular container shipping via the Northern Sea Route (NSR) has become an "Ice Silk Road," Russian Presidential Adviser and Executive Secretary of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) Organizing Committee Anton Kobyakov told TASS in an interview ahead of the forum.

"The NSR offers its participants unprecedented opportunities precisely in the current environment of disrupted logistics chains and traditional routes being blocked by areas of military and political tensions. A striking example is the announcement by Chinese company Sea Legend of the launch of regular container shipping via the NSR, which they call the ‘Ice Silk Road,’" Kobyakov said.

He explained that the Belt and Road Initiative previously comprised two components - the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and the Silk Road Economic Belt. "It turns out that the NSR is a third, newly emerging component of the initiative, one that China, unlike the first two, would have no way of implementing without Russia," he noted.

The Eastern Economic Forum will be held on September 1-4 in Vladivostok on the campus of Far Eastern Federal University. The forum is organized by the Roscongress Foundation with the support of the Russian government. TASS is the general information partner.