MOSCOW, Jan. 23 (Xinhua) -- Russia is strengthening its capabilities in building nuclear-powered icebreakers, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday.
Putin noted that Russia has been a leader in Arctic exploration for many decades and continues to expand its icebreaker fleet.
Russia has 34 diesel icebreakers, eight operational nuclear icebreakers, and more under construction, he added.
Putin said the country's most advanced nuclear-powered icebreaker, Leader, is currently being built at the Zvezda shipyard in Russia's Far East and is expected to be completed by 2030.
According to TASS news agency, the Leader icebreaker is the most powerful of its kind in the world and is being built under Russia's Project 10510 icebreaker program Rossiya. It is designed to break ice up to 4.3 meters thick and escort vessels through ice up to two meters thick at a speed of 11 knots. ■
