Russia’s second domestically-built Arc-7 ice class tanker has begun transiting the Northern Sea Route, Reuters reported on August 14 citing data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG).

Built at the country Zvezda shipyard, the Konstantin Posyet is the second Arc7 ice class LNG tanker constructed in Russia after the first vessel in the series, Aleksey Kosygin, which began service in December.

According to LSEG data, the Konstantin Posyet has left Bolshoy Kamen Bay in Primorsky ‌Krai in Russia’s Far East and is expected to arrive at its destination on August 30, although the final destination of the vessel has not been specified.

The Konstantin Posyet was received by Russia's sanctioned state-controlled shipping group Sovcomflot in late June.

Russia’s ability to build Arc-7 ice class LNG tankers is critical to its ability to circumvent Western sanctions. A study by Renaissance Capital found that the addition of each additional icebreaker to the fleet of Sovcomflot could contribute 3%–5% of the company's revenue and EBITDA by 2027 while supporting higher exports from Novatek’s Arctic LNG 2 project.

Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 facility has been sanctioned by the West and has struggled to export LNG cargoes. Russia is building 15 Arc7 LNG tankers at its Zvezda shipyard for the Arctic LNG 2 facility. The export terminal shipped just 23 cargoes, or around 1.3 mn tonnes of LNG, in 2025.

The US first imposed sanctions on the plant located in the port of Sabetta in September 2023, even before the plant had commenced production of the super-cooled gas.

The facility was planned to be Russia’s biggest export terminal. At full production the export terminal would have a capacity of 19.8 mn tonnes per year (tpy), surpassing the neighbouring Yamal LNG plant, which has a processing capacity of 16.5 mn tpy and is not under Western sanctions.

However, with a shortage of ice-class LNG tankers as Western sanctions prohibit firms such as Japan’s Mitsui O.S.K. Lines (MOL) from delivering Arc-7 LNG carriers, Arctic LNG 2 has only been able to export a fraction of its production capacity as sanctions continue to bite the project located in northwestern Siberia.