Russia Starts rebuilding Military Bases in the Arctic.

Russia Starts rebuilding Military Bases in the Arctic.(MT).

Set on restoring the once formidable Soviet military presence in the highly contested and resource-rich Arctic, the Russian military has begun building new military bases in the region, a Defense Ministry spokesperson said Monday.

"On Wrangel Island and Cape Schmidt, block-modules have been unloaded for the construction of military camps. The complex is being erected in the form of a star," Colonel Alexander Gordeyev, a spokesperson for the Eastern Military District, was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti.

Russia has been talking about militarizing the Arctic for years as part of its greater strategy to explore and industrialize the pristine region, which is wealthy in oil and gas and offers a strategic trade route capable of rerouting the global trade flows.

The locations named by Gordeyev are deep into the Arctic circle in the Chukchi Sea, close to Alaska.

The construction of the new Arctic bases, which will be the first new facilities established in the area since the Soviets abandoned their Arctic positions in the waning years of the Cold War, marks a milestone in Russia's militarization of the region.

Wrangel Island is classified by the Russian government as a nature reserve and was never used by the Soviets as a military base. In late August, the Russian navy carried out an expedition to the island and planted a flag, which Pacific Fleet spokesperson Captain First Rank Roman Martov said "heralded the station of the first ever naval base on [Wrangel Island]."

Cape Schmidt, on the other hand, saw use during the Cold War as a base for long-range strategic bombers. The Soviet government established airbases throughout the Arctic for its bomber fleet, as this was the closest geographic point to the United States.

The two sets of 34 prefabricated modules being installed on Wrangel Island and Cape Schmidt will contribute to Putin's aspirations by giving Russia's Arctic forces a comfortable home in an unforgiving environment. The base will consist of residential, commercial, administrative and recreational units, RIA Novosti reported.

Roman Filimonov, director of the Defense Ministry's department for state procurement of capital construction said in July that it intends to establish six such compounds in the Arctic "to further develop the stationing of ground forces in the Arctic ... They will be contemporary military communities. We will call them 'The North Star' since the shape of the community resembles a star."

Meanwhile, Russia's Northern Fleet, which is based out of Murmansk, in the western part of Russia's vast Arctic territory, is being reinforced with Russia's newest nuclear attack submarines — the Yasen-class. The first Yasen, called the Severodvinsk, joined the Northern Fleet in June. With three additional vessels slated to follow her, the Yasen-type submarines will phase out the older Soviet-era Akula and Alfa-class attack submarines. This will leave Russia with a formidable underwater force to complement the already hard-hitting capabilities of the Northern Fleet.

Such developments have alarmed the other members of the so-called Arctic Council, a group of nations that share borders in the region. In late August, Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird raised the alarm on Russia's military buildup in the region, vowing that it would not hesitate to defend Canadian sovereignty in the Arctic.

By the end of 2014, Russia will have moved military units to Kotelny Island, located north of the Sakha Republic in eastern Siberia, and a motorized rifle brigade to Alakurtii, a village in Murmansk oblast, to coincide with deployments to the Franz Josef Archipelago and Novaya Zemlya.

By 2015, Russia hopes to restore the entirety of its former-Soviet defense infrastructure in the region, RIA Novosti said.Read the full story here.


 Related: Canada Adds Drones to Its Fight With Russia for the North Pole

‘Soviet Union’ to replace ‘Russia’ by the end of the year.

Nuclear Icebreaker Yamal.

‘Soviet Union’ to replace ‘Russia’ by the end of the year. (RBTH).

Before the end of the year, the Soviet Union will replace Russia. This is not an announcement of an impending coup or change of political line, although the move does involve giants, albeit not geopolitical but marine ones: Soviet-era nuclear-powered icebreakers of the Arktika-class. Arktika-class nuclear icebreakers are auxiliary vessels with two nuclear reactors onboard and a displacement of half an aircraft carrier. 

A unique ship with an ordinary story The icebreaker Sovetsky Soyuz came into service just two years before the country that gave it life and its name ceased to exist. It was the third ship in the series. 

Unlike its illustrious predecessors, which became the first ships to reach the North Pole, the Sovetsky Soyuz led a quiet life, carrying wealthy foreigners on their tourist voyages to the Arctic. 

Icehunters: Russian conquerors of the North Pole In the early 2000s, it was used as a floating power plant, with its reactors generating electricity for various coastal facilities in Murmansk. Then there were several more scientific expeditions, after which the giant ship spent five years laid up. 

Now the icebreaker is in demand again. It has been announced that for at least eight more years the Sovetsky Soyuz will be used to help ships navigate along the increasingly more popular Northern Sea Route, which – due to melting ice – has over the past three years seen a 15-fold rise in cargo traffic (from 100,000 tons in 2010 to 1.5 million tons in 2013). 

Furthermore, the Northern Sea Route is shorter than routes running through southern latitudes; is safer since there are no pirates; and is therefore economically more efficient. 

Almost a cruiser The refurbishment of the Sovetsky Soyuz is due to be completed by the end of this year. It will replace the nuclear icebreaker Rossiya, which needs to have its reactor fuel refilled. Part of Rossiya’s crew have already transferred to the Sovetsky Soyuz and are busy doing repairs there. The service life of its reactor has been extended to 150,000 hours. 

Thus, out of the six Arktika-class icebreakers, soon only three will remain in service: Yamal, 50 Let Pobedy, and Sovetsky Soyuz. These gigantic ships with a length of up to 150 meters and a crew of 138 people were the most powerful ships in the world when the first of them was built in 1972. 

 These icebreakers were built as dual-purpose ships: It was envisaged that they could be quickly converted into military auxiliary cruisers. They have fire-control radars and a dedicated section for installing artillery weapons. 

Part of the relevant equipment is mothballed onboard and part is kept in shore depots. Extending the service life of the Arktika-class icebreakers will give shipbuilders more time to create icebreakers of the new, LK-60, type. St. Petersburg’s Baltiysky Zavod shipyard will build three new ships for Atomflot, due to come into service after 2020. Hmmm.....Number of Heavy US Icebreakers........ZERO.

Also critical to missions in the Arctic is America’s icebreaking capability. Regrettably, this is one capability that is more lacking than even the High Endurance Cutter fleet. The U.S. Coast Guard has two heavy-duty icebreakers, neither of which is currently operational. One is set to be revitalized, but this will be costly and add only a few years to the vessel’s service life.
A new heavy-duty icebreaker would cost nearly a billion dollars and take a decade to build. Considering that the Coast Guard’s total recapitalization budget for fiscal year 2013 is $1.2 billion, it would be difficult to afford much else if the sea service wishes to buy a new icebreaker, even over 10 years.

Related:   First Chinese Icebreaker 'Xue Long' or "Snow Dragon" crosses Northern Ice sea.

               Breaking the Ice: Russian Nuclear-Powered Ice-Breakers.

               Russian nuclear icebreakers fleet