Russia trolls Suez Canal with northern 'alternative'

Moscow (AFP) March 25, 2021

Russia cheekily pushed the Northern Sea Route on Thursday as an "alternative" to Egypt's Suez Canal after a huge container ship blocked the busy shipping lane. President Vladimir Putin has long promoted the passage along the country's Siberian coast as a rival to the Suez Canal, and Russia seized on the Egyptian route's traffic jam to play it up again. The Japanese-owned, Panama-flagged