Breaking news
Russia increases number of Russian troops to be stationed in Arctic Region TASS 12901164.
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Defence & Security News - Russia
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| Russia increases number of Russian troops to be stationed in Arctic Region. | |||
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The Russian Defense Ministry is increasing its force to be stationed in the Arctic, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said at the session of the Defense Ministry Board. "The build-up of the forces being deployed there to be stationed permanently is under way," the minister said.
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 Training of Russian army cadets in the Arctic division DVVKU |
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"This boosts the capability of the Armed Forces to defend the national interests in the region," Shoigu stressed. Late in 2015, he announced the completion of four military bases in the Arctic and promised an increase in the strength of the force in the Arctic in 2016. Previously, a ranking official in the Russian General Staff told TASS that self-sustained mobile forces were to be formed in the region by 2018.
Shoigu had said previously that a wide range of potential challenges and threats to Russia’s security was brewing up in the Arctic. Therefore, he said, the developing of military infrastructure in the region was on the ministry’s priority list. "Special attention is being paid to strengthening the [Arctic] airspace surveillance capabilities. The Northern Fleet’s 45th Air Force was activated for this purpose in December 2015," Shoigu said. The defense minister reminded that radar units and an S-300 (NATO reporting name: SA-10 Grumble) surface-to-air missile regiment have assumed the alert duty "at the Franz-Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya and New Siberian Islands archipelagos." The forming of an air force as part of the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet was announced in summer 2015. The fleet’s chief of staff, Nikolai Yevmenov, reported in late January 2016 that the efforts had been completed. "The accommodation for service members is being created. For instance, the unique administrative and housing facilities are nearing completion on Kotelny and Alexandra Land islands to accommodate military units, enabling them to serve in all seasons," the Russian defense minister said. Shoigu reminded the audience that the military base construction was in progress on the archipelagos of Franz-Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya and New Siberian Islands and added that an intricate logistics infrastructure was being established too, with much importance being attached to environmental friendliness, waste disposal and cleanup of the Arctic. |
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