Experts warn that the route could also facilitate sanctions evasion and military maneuvering as global powers contest influence in the High North. Russia, with the world’s largest fleet of nuclear and conventional icebreakers, wields dominant leverage over Arctic navigation, while the U.S. is boosting its Arctic presence through new Coast Guard shipbuilding programs and collaborations with Finland. Norway and Denmark are also strengthening their defenses in the Arctic in response to Chinese and Russian expansion. As climate change accelerates, the Arctic increasingly appears to be the world’s next major geopolitical frontier.