New Arctic cable routes opened by melting ice create strategic chokepoints through Russian territorial waters

Climate change is opening Arctic shipping and cable routes (e.g., the Far North Fiber project) that reduce latency between Asia and Europe by 30-40%. But these routes pass through or near Russian territorial waters in the Arctic, creating a dependency on Russian goodwill for cable maintenance access. An Arctic cable severed in Russian waters requires Russian permission for repair ships to enter -- permission that could be withheld during a conflict. This persists because Arctic cable routes are commercially attractive (shorter distance = lower latency = higher value for financial trading), and the companies building them prioritize commercial returns over geopolitical risk. No alternative Arctic routing avoids Russian-influenced waters entirely.