The lining of a Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker was damaged while it freed a vessel trapped in Arctic waters. This was reported by the state news agency RIA on Tuesday.

The vessel Fifty Years of Victory was said to be operating normally, and that its reactor and other vital systems had not been damaged. The incident occurred on Sunday evening in the Kara Sea. According to RIA, no one was injured.

Rosatomflot, the fleet operator, said that the nuclear icebreaker continued to operate normally in the waters along the Northern Sea Route.

Vladimir Putin has made the development of the Northern Sea Route through the Arctic a priority, as Russia is shifting its trade to the east in response waves of Western sanctions relating to the war in Ukraine.

(source: Reuters)