Russia in 2020 saw record high average temperatures and a record drop of the summer ice cover on its Arctic maritime route, Russia's weather monitoring institute Rosgidromet said Thursday. The average annual temperature last year was 3.22 degrees Celsius higher than the average for the period of 1961-1990 and more than one degree higher than the previous record of 2007, while the Northern Sea Route was "completely free of ice" by the end of last summer, reaching a "record low level", it said in a report. acl/mm/har