Arctic rush

The construction of military facilities in the Arctic is under threat of suspension


No Rush

Gee, its as if there are no other cobstruction companies in Russia  

Half the politicians in Duma own a construction company.

Russia completes equipping of six military bases in Arctic — General Staff source

According to a source, the work for the deployment and equipment of six military bases on the Arctic islands and in the polar part of mainland Russia is completed

ST. PETERSBURG, December 7. /TASS/. Russia has completed equipping its six military bases in the Arctic, a high-ranking source in the Russian army’s General Staff told TASS on Monday.

"According to the General Staff’s execution documents, the work for the deployment and equipment of six military bases on the Arctic islands and in the polar part of mainland Russia is completed," the source said at the fifth international forum that discusses the Arctic and its present and future.

He said that the bases were deployed on the islands of Kotelny (New Siberian Islands), Alexandra Land (part of the Franz-Joseph Land archipelago), Sredny (Severnaya Zemlya), as well as in the Rogachevo settlement (Novaya Zemlya), on Cape Schmidt and Wrangel Island (part of the Chukotka autonomous area).

Russia Keeps Building Military Facilities in Arctic Even in Polar Night

http://mil.today/2015/Arctic4/

Air and Air Defense forces in the North Command will be called the 45th Army.

MOSCOW, January 29 - RIA Novosti. In order to strengthen the system of air monitoring in the Arctic in December 2015 formed 45th Army Air Force and Air Defense of the Northern Fleet, said on Friday, Russian Defence Minister, Army General Sergei Shoigu.

"Particular attention is paid to strengthening the control of air situation (in the Arctic zone). To this end, in December 2015, formed 45th Army Air Force and Air Defense of the Northern Fleet," - said the Minister of Defence at the board meeting of the military department in the National Center for Control of Defense.

He said that "step up alert air defense units of the radio engineering troops and anti-aircraft missile regiment equipped with modernized S-300" Favorite "in the archipelago of Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, the New Siberian Islands." In addition, Shoigu said, "carried out in the Arctic build groups of troops being deployed on a permanent basis."

"As a result of the expanded capabilities of the armed forces to ensure the protection of national interests in the region", - said the head of the military department.

After watching this, you can just see that the artic is going to be the next flash point. I just wish for three things to happen:

1.) The breakup of th EU, I think this would really help because then the European countries will have a little more freedom to make their decisions.

2.) Have many refugees/migrants move to Norway, Sweden Finland and Poland, these countries are the most anti-Russian countries that there are, so having refugees/migrants giving them problems and raping thier women would not be a bad thing.


3.) Cut down on trade with anti Russian countries and give it to the BRICS, Iran and other countries not hostile to Russia.

http://southfront.org/russia-defense-report-battle-for-arctic/

Both North and South

https://www.rt.com/news/331837-china-antarctic-arctic-russia/

Dragon + Bear: China seeks Russia's help in mastering Arctic, sets sights on Antarctic

China wants to further explore the Antarctic and Arctic, according to the Chinese State Oceanic Administration. Deep-sea mining and deep-sea space stations are on the agenda, while Beijing wants to arrange a joint Arctic expedition with Russia.

How Russia Could Annex the Arctic

Tensions have increased a notch in the Arctic with the news that the Russians have started a major military exercise in the region. Nearly 40,000 servicemen, 41 warships and 15 submarines will be taking part in drills to make them combat-ready—a major show of strength in a region that has long been an area of strategic interest to Russia.

Russia might be reshaping national borders in Europe as it reasserts its geopolitical influence, but the equivalent borders in the Arctic have never been firmly established. Historically it has proven much harder for states to assert sovereignty over the ocean than over land, even in cases where waters are ice-covered for most of the year.

For centuries the extent to which a nation state could control its coastal areas was based on the so-called cannon-shot rule—a three-nautical-mile limit based on the range of a cannon fired from the land. But this changed after World War II, leading to the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention (UNCLOS) in 1982.

Under UNCLOS, every signatory was given the right to declare territorial waters up to 12 nautical miles and an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of up to 200 for commercial activities, such as fishing and oil exploration. Signatories could also extend their sovereignty beyond the limits of this EEZ by up to an additional 150 nautical miles if they could prove that their continental shelves extended beyond 200 nautical miles from the shore.

Orderly settlement

It is quite common to read about a “scramble for the Arctic” in which the states concerned—Denmark, Norway, Canada, Russia and the US—race to carve up the region between themselves. In fact, this is not a very accurate description.

There are two dimensions to developments in the region—one legal and the other political. In legal terms, these five littoral states have sought to use UNCLOS to establish borders and assert their primacy over much of the Arctic Ocean and the seabed below (with the exception of the US, which is yet to ratify the convention).

Canada and Russia have also used the special provisions provided byArticle 234 of UNCLOS—relating to the right to regulate over ice-covered waters—to strengthen their authority over emerging Arctic shipping routes (the Northwest Passage and the Northern Sea Route).

In 2008 the five states issued the Ilulissat Declaration, committing to the “orderly settlement of any possible overlapping claims” using the legal framework provided by the law of the sea. This has been reflected in the continental-shelf claims they have submitted to the UN over the past 15 years: Russia (2001), Norway (2006), Canada (2013) andDenmark (2014).

These submissions are all claims for an extension of exclusive rights to continental shelves beyond 200 nautical miles from each land border. This leaves a small area in the central Arctic Ocean unclaimed but alsoraises issues about various territories where more than one state has posted a claim (see graphic below).

Among the claimants, Russia has been asked by the UN to submit further scientific evidence in support of its case. This has not yet happened to the other states, but since it will take time for their claims to be assessed, this may yet change. Until the US ratifies UNCLOS, it can’t submit a claim.



Insecure borders

Legal provisions only go so far. The question remains: what happens if the Arctic states become more assertive in the delimitation of their national borders?

Canada and Denmark have made significant commitments to backing up their claims, including developing new security strategies. In 2012 Denmark established a specialised military command to police its Arctic territories, for instance. But over the last decade, it is Russia that has advanced the most significant plans for building up its security forces in the region – even before its most recent exercises began.

In material terms, Russia currently has the most to gain from industrially developing its Arctic zone. The Russian Arctic contains significant reserves of hydrocarbons, diamonds, metals and other minerals with an estimated value of more than $22.4tn (£15.2tn). The area is already a major producer of rare and precious metals and important oil and gas fields.

This makes it easy to see why the Kremlin announced in 2008 that it will use the Arctic zone as a “strategic resource base” for the socio-economic development of Russia in the 21st century. In 2013 the Kremlin further observed that such development would be heavily dependent on foreign investment, technology and expertise.

Yet this apparent openness to international business interests has been accompanied by an intense sense of insecurity about Russia maintaining influence and authority in the region. It is wary of a Western bloc forming within the Arctic Council (the five littoral states plus Finland, Iceland and Sweden) and has preferred to engage the other Arctic states on a bilateral or regional basis. Russia is particularly concerned about the potential for the EU and NATO to become more active in Arctic affairs, given that all of the other Arctic states are members of one or both of these organizations.

Vladimir Putin has spoken publicly about the need to keep tensions to a minimum in the Arctic, while embarking on its extensive military and security program in the region at the same time—not least establishinga new Arctic strategic command last December.

The Kremlin showed in its response to the Greenpeace 30 incident, in which environmental activists tried to seize a Russian oil platform in 2013, that it will not tolerate any threat to its economic activities in the Arctic, nor allow any precedent that might undermine its authority over what it essentially regards as its territorial waters.

Future uncertainties

Russia will submit a new claim for an extension of its EEZ into the Arctic Ocean to the UN in 2015 (encompassing an area of roughly 1.2m sqkm). Already state officials in Russia are positioning the situation as a test of whether the international scientific community will accept Russian science.

A second rejection of Russian claims in the Arctic might further feed Russian concerns about being kept down and encircled by Western rivals. On the other hand, if Russia’s claim is accepted, the rest of the international community might quite rightly become concerned about how the Kremlin will exert its authority within such significantly expanded maritime borders in the Arctic. This is because Russia will likely continue using Article 234 of UNCLOS to enable it to exercise complete authority in its extended EEZ, with little regard for the right to innocent passage.

The deterioration in Russia’s relations with the West is only likely to up the stakes for the Kremlin when it comes to settling its maritime borders in the Arctic. Russia has remained engaged in the Arctic Council and has repeatedly called for the Arctic to remain insulated from the fallout from Ukraine. Yet in the coming years, Russia’s neighbors are likely to remain wary about how exactly the Kremlin plans to negotiate and secure its borders along its Arctic frontier.

Russia submits revised application for extending Arctic shelf to UN

More:
http://tass.ru/en/politics/855582

Russian Defense Ministry Orders Three More Arctic Helicopters

The Russian Defense Ministry has ordered the delivery of three additional helicopter developed specifically for the Arctic deployment, a managing director of Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant manufacturing facility, part of Russia’s state technologies corporation Rostec, said Friday.

In November, the Russian military received its first Mi-8AMTSh-VA helicopter that features new Klimov VK-2500-03 turboshaft engines, a more powerful TA-14 auxiliary power plant and upgraded avionics. It has high-altitude navigation, as well as the capability for day and night flight in adverse weather conditions.

"[The helicopter] has no equals in the ability to perform tasks in the arctic climate," Leonid Belykh said commenting on the ministry's interest in procuring the aircraft.

Russia's revised military doctrine, signed by President Vladimir Putin in December 2014, for the first time named the protection of national interests in the Arctic among the main priorities for its armed forces during peacetime.

Shoigu was visiting new military base in Nagurskoye in Land of Alexander island.

http://vpk.name/news/153842_na_ostrove_zemlya_aleksandryi_planiruetsya_razmestit_zveno_boevyih_samoletov.html

It is interesting, that it is not still clear which fighters will be stationed in Nagurskoye. Will they be 4 Su-34 or 4 MiG-31BM? On the other hand it seems it will be under Northern fleet Navy and Su-34 and MiG-31 are air force jets. Which ever jets they will be, their job will be mostly maritime patrols and flying over the sea.

Russia orders new Project 23550 Arctic class patrol ship



Russia has ordered two Project 23550 ice-class armed patrol boats, the Russian Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced.The class is described (in Russian) by the MoD as being "without analogues in the world", and combining "the qualities of tug, ice-breaker, and patrol boat".

The two vessels ordered will be built by Admiralty Shipyards in St Petersburg and are scheduled to be delivered to the Russian Navy by 2020.

The MoD specifies the Project 23550 class as being able to break ice up to 1.5 m thick. A concept image released by the MoD showed the vessel armed with a medium-calibre main gun on the foredeck (likely an A-190 100 mm naval gun), a helicopter deck and hangar, and two aft payload bays each fitted with a containerised missile launch system (akin to the Club-K system offered for export) armed with four erectable launch tubes - presumably for either Club anti-ship or Kalibr-NK land-attack missiles. Although billed as patrol boats, this level of armament makes them better armed than many corvettes.

Russia will create a system of protection of the Arctic

Enterprises of the military-industrial complex are developing a sonar system for the protection of the Arctic territorial waters of Russia, have informed "news" a source in the defense Ministry.
- Now there is a study project of the new system. Work should be completed next year and after approval of the Ministry of defense will begin deploying it, - said the interlocutor of the edition.

SEE ALSO
In the Arctic will build ten military airfields
"Security alarm" of the Arctic is composed of three components: marine, space and terrestrial. First, sonar buoys and underwater sensors, catch the noise of surface ships and submarines. The information gathered through satellites is transmitted to ground control station. The expanded system will cover the area of hundreds of kilometers.

Head developer of the complex security is Corporation space systems of a special purpose "Comet" that appeared recently in the concern PVO "Almaz-Antey". The project involves dozens of Russian defense industry enterprises. The main issue when creating system experts, sustainment of sensors. Placed under water sonars must be sufficiently compact and unobtrusive, capturing the noise at a great distance. And diet have to provide energy not only them but also the equipment space communications.

- American and British nuclear submarines were active in the Arctic during the cold war - in particular, went into the sea, washing the Russian coast. In recent years their activity is associated with the advent of the Northern fleet of the newest submarines of project "Borei" and "Yasen". Also we must not forget that American submarines armed with cruise missiles "Tomahawk" with a range of 1.5 thousand kilometers, noted historian of the Navy Dmitry Boltenkov.

In August 2014, the Northern fleet found in the Barents sea, submarine, US Navy class "Virginia". After a 27-minute pursuit surface ships and anti-submarine aircraft left the area.

Half a century ago, the United States has deployed in North Atlantic for several lines of anti-submarine sonar system SOSUS. Placed on the line Greenland - Iceland - UK underwater sensor was used to track Soviet submarines. However, the system was imperfect and could only find subs for the first and second generations. Moreover, the Soviet submariners quickly learned how to cheat the enemy "ears": for example, they overcome the barrier under the bottom of a merchant ship. In the 90-ies during the test, the coordinates of modern low-noise submarines built the ellipse size 216х90 km. Now part of the sonar SOSUS mothballed.

The shortcomings of the American system will be taken into account in creation of Russian one.

https://rg.ru/2016/07/20/rossiia-sozdast-sistemu-ohrany-arktiki.html

Construction of two Northern bases near completion.

http://en.ria.ru/military/20160731/1043810910/russia-arctic-northern-fleet.html

The arctic ice cap melting today.

Actually the ice sheet is extremely small compared to anything.

I was gonna post this on the propaganda thread, but it had so much info on this thread's topic, that i decided to post it here.



The foreboding background music is just creepy.

No comment.

kvs wrote:

JohninMK wrote:Agnia Grigas ‏@AgniaGrigas 29 Dec 2016

Interesting map illustrating the scope of #Russia's rapid #militarization of the #Arctic.

pbs.twimg.com/media/C0152tUUAAABQyI.jpg

In Canada the term is asserting sovereignty and not "militarization".   Russia is free to build any military outpost it pleases
on its sovereign territory.    The use of the term "militarization" is propaganda spin to smear Russia as engaging in wrong doing.
BS.   It demonstrates that the propagandists have ambitions regarding Russia's Arctic resources and territory.    Russia is
doing the proper thing and making sure that these ambitious foreigners are held in check.   This response pattern has been
there throughout the history of the world.   Including in the precious west.    

Especially in the days of the European colonialists who operated on the basis of 'once we've grabbed it its ours' massively assisted by the advanced technology of the day and the Industrial Revolution.

The World is still suffering the consequences but, as you say, Russia is a different ballgame. No innocent natives there