Russia plans Arctic military build-up
Pastor Dale Morgan
Russia plans Arctic military build-up*
By Adrian Blomfield in Moscow
Last Updated: 10:49PM BST 11/06/2008
Russia has raised the stakes in the international scramble for the
Arctic by announcing it will boost its military presence in the region
to protect its "national interests".
The defence ministry said naval vessels would be sent to the Arctic
Ocean, which is believed to be home to 25 percent of the world's
untapped energy resources, as part of a Summer training zone.
Gen Vladimir Shamanov, the head of the combat training directorate,
stated that Russia had "highly trained military units" prepared for
Arctic warfare.
He revealed that Russia would expand its naval presence in the Atlantic
and Pacific Oceans as part of a strategy to flex the country's growing
military might on the world stage.
"The summer training programme envisions the increased presence of the
Russian navy not only in the Atlantic but also in the Arctic and the
Pacific," Gen Shamanov said. "We are also planning to increase the
operational radius of the Northern Fleet's submarines."
The West has become increasingly concerned by Russia's determination to
flex its military muscle in international waters and airspace.
Disquiet over the Kremlin's intent in the Arctic is likely to grow still
further after Gen Shamanov, a prominent military hawk who was accused of
war crimes in Chechnya, suggested that the focus of Russia's military
strategy would shift towards "protecting national interests" in the Arctic.
Russia had the capability, he said, to defend its claim to roughly half
of the Arctic Ocean – including the North Pole.
"We have a number of highly professional military units in the
Leningrad, Siberian and Far Eastern military districts which are
specifically trained for combat in the Arctic regions," he said.
Russian assertiveness in the sensitive region was again on display
yesterday when Nato jets shadowed two Russian bombers, designed for
anti-submarine warfare, on a reconnaissance mission close to the North Pole.
While the Kremlin attracted international criticism after a titanium
Russian flag was planted on the sea bed underneath the North Pole last
year, other countries with an Arctic shoreline have been accused of
playing an equally aggressive role in militarizing the region.
Stephen Harper, the Canadian prime minister, last year ordered military
ships to the Arctic amid growing tensions with both the United States
and Russia over competing territorial claims in the region.
Russia, the United States and Canada have also announced plans to build
nuclear icebreakers to defend their Arctic interests.
US naval vessels and British nuclear submarines held joint war games in
the Arctic Ocean last year, a development that aroused suspicion in Moscow.
The five nations with Arctic Ocean coastlines – Russia, Canada, the
United States, Denmark and Norway – all have sometimes overlapping
claims to Arctic territory that exceeds maritime borders fixed by
international law.
A United Nations commission has been established to study the legitimacy
of the claims. The issue has taken on added urgency as global warming
causes the ice in the Arctic to melt, thereby raising the realistic
prospect of harnessing the ocean's energy treasure trove for the first time.
Russia, already the world's largest energy producer, has the longest
coastline of the Arctic nations and therefore has filed the biggest claim.
Despite occasional outbreaks of imperialist rhetoric, the Kremlin has
consistently promised not to colonize the Arctic unilaterally and has
pledged to abide by international adjudication on its territorial rights
in the region.