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The article is dedicated to the study of Belarusian projects in the development of the Northern Sea Route (NSR). The purpose of this research was to trace how Belarus's attitude and degree of participation in the Arctic has changed. This topic is more relevant today than ever. The Northern Sea Route is one of the most unique routes in the world. In 2025, the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the exploration of the NSR will be celebrated. In 2022, the 90th anniversary of the NSR was marked, as in 1932, Otto Schmidt's expedition on the icebreaker ship "Alexander Sibiryakov" became the first in the world to navigate the entire Northern Sea Route in one navigation season. In the current geopolitical conditions, when Belarus, like Russia, is under sanctions, this maritime port gains even more significance. The article employs the method of comparative retrospective and statistical analysis, which helped to see how Belarus's degree of involvement in the development of the NSR has changed. State programs of the republic aimed at expanding cooperation with the Arctic regions of Russia were studied as sources. The novelty of the research lies in the comprehensive and detailed analysis of the different stages of Belarus's interest in the Arctic, which has been maturing for quite some time; corresponding special state programs were adopted in the republic in 2011 and 2015. This is especially relevant today, as Belarus has been under strict Western sanctions since 2020, cutting it off from the ports of the Baltic States. After that, Minsk began to focus on cooperation with Moscow in using Russian ports. The situation began to change even more rapidly after 2022 when it became clear that Belarus had no access to external markets except through Russian territory. Belarus is interested in transporting potash fertilizers and other types of its products via the NSR. Investors from Belarus are investing in the construction of new ports in the Murmansk region and Primorye. Regional cooperation is expanding. Particular attention is paid to the Russian regions along which the NSR runs. If Belarus can properly take advantage of the situation and become one of the active participants in this process, it will be able not only to trade freely with the Asian region in the future but also to become an integral element of the functioning of the NSR.