Russia builds massive Arctic military base

Tuesday 18 April 2017

Russia builds massive Arctic military base

Moscow builds permanent structure on the 80th parallel in the far north Arctic where 150 soldiers can live autonomously for up to 18 months

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/...c_3478218b.jpgVladimir Putin is determined to house a presence in the Arctic Photo: AP

By AFP
7:23PM BST 20 Oct 2015
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Russia's defence ministry said on Tuesday it has built a giant military base in the far northern Arctic where 150 soldiers can live autonomously for up to 18 months.

The ministry said the building erected on the large island of Alexandra Land, which is part of the Franz Josef Land archipelago, is 97 per cent complete.

Named the "Arctic Trefoil", or three-lobed leaf, the sprawling three-pointed structure is coloured red white and blue like the Russian flag.

The base is a permanent structure located on the 80th parallel north and has an area of 14,000 square metres (150,000 square feet).

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/...c_3091350c.jpg^{Picture: The Heritage Foundation}

The building can house 150 soldiers and stock enough fuel and food to let them work there autonomously for a year and a half, the ministry said.

The soldiers can move around the base from one building to another without going outside to face winter temperatures which can reach minus 47 degrees Celsius (-57 degrees Fahrenheit). Fuel can be pumped in from tankers.

Franz Josef Land is a chain of islands between the Barents and Kara seas north of Novaya Zemlya archipelago.

It has maintained a Russian border post but the military presence there was withdrawn in the 1990s. It returned last November, when the Northern Fleet dispatched air defence contingents there.

This year Russia has reopened a landing strip there equipped for large transport planes in order to deliver building materials.

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/...c_3397174b.jpgRussian nuclear icebreaker Yamal in the Arctic. The scramble to secure resources in the high north as the Arctic ice melts has already produced international tensions. Photo: Getty

Russia is building up its Arctic military infrastructure as part of a recently updated Naval Doctrine, which proclaims the region as a top priority due to its mineral riches and strategic importance.

Russia has already built a similar military base called the "Northern Shamrock" on Kotelny island in the East Siberian Sea further south on the 75th parallel.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...tary-base.html

Secret Nazi military base discovered by Russian scientists in the Arctic


Scientists reported finding bunkers, rusted bullets and other relics dating from the Second World War

• Shehab Khan
• @shehabkhan
• Friday 21 October 2016 13:00 BST
• 98 comments

A secret Nazi military base in the Arctic has been discovered by Russian scientists.

The site – located on the island of Alexandra Land 1,000km from the North Pole 0150 was constructed in 1942, a year after Adolf Hitler invaded Russia.

It was codenamed “Schatzgraber” or “Treasure Hunter” by the Germans and was primarily used as a tactical weather station.

The base was abandoned when the scientists stationed there were poisoned by polar bear meat in 1944 and had to be rescued by a German U-boat.

It has been rediscovered 72 years later and more than 500 objects have been found, including a batch of well preserved documents, the Daily Mail reported.

The ruins of bunkers, rusted bullets and other relics dating from the Second World War have been discovered at the site, many of which remain in a good condition having been preserved by the cold weather.

The island was vital during the Second World War as the meterological reports it produced were essential for planning the movement of troops, submarines and ships.

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The name given to the base has led some to believe it may have had another secret mission – with some specialists speculating that it might have been used for the pursuit of ancient relics.

Alexandra Land was a disputed territory for a number of years but is now part of the Russian Federation.

Russia is thought to be looking to build its own permanent military base there today.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a7373401.html

TAKE A TOUR OF RUSSIA'S GIANT NEW ARCTIC MILITARY BASE

BY DAMIEN SHARKOV ON 4/18/17 AT 1:46 PM

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WORLDRUSSIARUSSIA IN THE ARCTICARCTICRUSSIAN MILITARY

Russia’s Ministry of Defense has unveiled the country’s newest Arctic military base on one of the northernmost points of its remote Franz Josef Land archipelago. Moscow has invited internet users on a virtual tour around the facility known as Arkticheskiy Trilistnik or ‘Arctic Trefoil’.

Despite its college dorm aesthetics, the base can comfortably support 150 staff for up to 18 months, establishing the mold for Russia’s post-Soviet military strategy. It is the second base of its kind since Russia unveiled a similar base on Kotelny Island in 2015; and Russia is planning four more to follow.

The new base is a refinement of the trefoil design of three hubs, connected by an internal quad by covered lobbies, that will likely be repeated in the planned bases at Rogachevo, Cape Schmidt, Wrangel Island and Sredniy Island. All form part of Russia’s bid to strengthen its military command and communication presence across its northernmost territories.

The new base on Franz Josef’s northern Alexandra Land has limited conventional combat capabilities and is primarily focusing on radar and surveillance. But its significance, much like its shape, is three-pronged, analysts say.

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Northern “Coastal” Guard

While the virtual tour does not show any military equipment at the base, Igor Sutyagin, a Russian military expert at London’s Royal United Services Institute, notes that its arsenal is likely to include anti-ship and anti-aircraft defenses. Its combat significance, alongside other similar bases, will be in surveilling a region that Moscow has struggled to keep an eye on.

“The problem with Russian defense is that until recently the Russian military had a huge gap in its radar coverage on its Arctic coast,” Sutyagin says, noting that Moscow had few facilities along the Northern Sea Route that spans the majority of the country’s length.

“It meant that virtually everybody could enter the waters without notice. Now you need radar so you are just aware of what passes through.”

Sutyagin estimates that the base will have standard self-defense capabilities, such as Russia’s surface-to-air missile system Pantsir, for air defense, and a cruise missile battery with up to 400 kilometers in range. The size or nature of the first deployment is not yet public, though it will almost certainly contain navigation experts to operate the radar and Arctic intelligence equipment.

The ability to flag a potential threat has become more pertinent to Russia, particularly since China—which is not an Arctic power—has pushed for equal trade access to the world’s northernmost waters.

“Twice Chinese vessels have entered Russian territorial waters without permission from Russia, carrying out research but violating Russian sovereign law,” Sutyagin says. “Two years ago the Chinese navy sent marines on an exercise at the Bering Strait,” he adds, referring to a 2015 incident that concerned the U.S. but also Russia.

Since then, Russia has upgraded its ability to spot incoming vessels, which can then call a conventional force of Arctic-trained paratroopers or marines to the fore. Such units can be deployed quickly even from a distance.

Backing Arctic Claims

Russia is one of five countries with claims over the North Pole and the resources in it. The radar bases represent a permanent presence in its most remote areas that raises the stakes for anyone else willing to claim access to disputed waters.

“This is definitely a kind of posturing but we cannot mark it down as unfounded posturing,” Sim Tack, military analyst at Stratfor, says. “It is part of a very distinct strategy that Russia establishes a permanent presence in region to back territorial claims. It would not mean much as a development otherwise. Even if the base’s functions are limited to monitoring the fact that forces will be able to be present on the ground for an extended period of time, even in the case of supplies being interrupted, is significant.”

According to Sutyagin, radar bases are links in a newly forged Russian chain of defense in the Arctic that Moscow hopes will involve other facilities such as an airfield nearby that can host more serious and more mobile firepower, albeit not permanently.

“That is serious argument potentially with other smaller nations for instance Denmark which is preparing a claim on the north pole via Greenland,” Sutyagin says. “Russia will construct Arctic airfield less than 200kilometers [124 miles] from the North Pole, also on Franz Josef Land, where it can deploy bombers if needed. If Denmark makes a bolder move for the North Pole, Russia can say ‘Do you have real capability to control territories where we have permanent presence?’”

A Psychological Boost

The Defense Ministry and the Kremlin’s frequent announcements of Arctic strategy—including the decision to showcase the newest base through a virtual tour—tells us something significant. The message to the Russian public is to reassure them that them that Russian capabilities are nearing the status that the Soviet Union once enjoyed in the High North.
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“To a very large extent this announcement is for p.r.” Sutyagin says, adding that the government hopes to rally the patriotic spirit of military prowess with such announcements.

“They do not see this as a new claim [over the Arctic]” he says. “Rather they want to restore the Soviet sphere of influence which includes the famous Soviet Arctic triangle, spanning from the Kola peninsula to Kamchatka,” he says.

The line between the two places spans Russia’s northernmost ports, which had Arctic expertise during Soviet times though many facilities among them fell into disrepair after the end of the Cold War. Since 2014, Russian armed forces have sought to recover some of the prestige of Arctic operations, forming the Arctic military command, in the northwest. The increased visibility of these Arctic units seems to be part of a deliberate strategy to boost Russian public pride in the military at a time of economic hardship.

“Of course,” he says, “the government wants people to see it and think ‘we are so strong, so forget about your empty fridge.’”

http://www.newsweek.com/tour-russias...ry-base-585759