Russia Prepares Militarization of Arctic
Photo Credit: CC/ NOAARussia has begun a large-scale militarization of the Arctic Ocean region, with a military command structure planned by 2017.
It comes after recent discoveries of oil and natural gas reserves under the ocean floor, and the possibility a potential Northern Sea Route — an alternative to the Suez Canal — could soon be established as global climate change causes melting of Arctic ice.
Former Soviet bases are being reactivated, a 6,000-soldier permanent military force will be established in the northwest Russia’s Murmansk region, and radar and guidance systems are planned in the area, the Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported.
Col. Oleg Salyukov said, “For the defense of national interests in the Arctic, a multiservice task force will be formed. A motorized rifle arctic brigade is now being formed in the Murmansk region. The second arctic brigade will be formed in 2016 and will be stationed in the Yamal-Nenets autonomous region,” a reference to the Arctic Circle area east of the Ural Mountains, RIA Novosti reported earlier this month.
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