Arctic alert: Russia increases its military presence with infrastructure, nuclear submarines and testing of its most modern weapons

Russia took advantage of the blockade of the Suez Canal to promote your Arctic sea route as a reliable alternative, while build military infrastructure and try their new weapons, as part of a wider Moscow campaign to develop the region and capitalize on climate change.

President Vladimir Putin has made Russia’s Arctic region a strategic priority and ordered investments in military infrastructure and mining.

Russia is one of the five arctic nations claiming its rights in the region, and Moscow has reinforced its military presence there, the reopening and modernization of several bases and airfields abandoned since the end of the Soviet era.

Moscow built a military base in the remote region isla de Kotelny, which is part of the islands of New Siberia in the eastern Arctic, and there are other facilities in the archipelago of Terre Franz-Joseph (Land of Francisco José).

Russia has also deployed its state-of-the-art S-400 air defense systems.

On March 20, the Russian army launched massive maneuvers in the Arctic near Alexandra Land, part of the Franz Josef Land archipelago.

As part of the exercise, three nuclear-powered submarines broke the ice and simultaneously emerged, while a nuclear submarine also fired a torpedo under the ice.

The exercises included testing of anti-aircraft systems Pantsir-S1, in-flight refueling of a fighter plane MiG-31 and Lock the drone controls that simulate an attack.

New type of torpedo

In addition, weapons experts and Western officials believe that Russia is testing a new type of torpedo called Poseidon 2M39, equipped with a nuclear reactor and whose development has progressed rapidly since the tests carried out last February.

This torpedo is said to be designed to pass undetected coastal defenses, such as those in the United States, according to CNN, who cited weapons experts and Western sources.

This type of weapon will have a capacity of several megatons of which the impact would cause radioactive waves, with the effect of leave coastal strips uninhabitable for decades, according to Russian official sources.

Satellite images obtained by the American channel show the development of Russian military bases on the Arctic coast, including the underground storage of Poseidon and other high-tech weapons, such as bombs and radar systems, off the coast of Alaska.

In addition, on Thursday, the Russian state news agency TASS reported another successful test of Tsirkon hypersonic anti-ship cruise missile of the warship Admiral Gorshkov, saying that the four test rockets had hit their targets.

The Tsirkon and Poseidon are part of a new generation of strategic weapons that Putin promised in 2018.

“We must think about how to develop alternative routes to the Suez Canal”

New trade route

Military development in the Arctic is closely linked to the momentum of the North Sea Route, one of the many commercial channels that they are located in the exclusive economic zone of Russia. Climate change and thaw in the open area new possibilities for commercial exploitation. For it, Moscow has injected large sums of money into a fleet of icebreakers and ice-class tankers.

A senior Russian diplomat said last week that the Suez Canal traffic jam underscores the importance of developing the Arctic route.

“The attractiveness of the Northern Sea Route will increase both in the short and long term. He has no other alternative ”, He said Nikolai Korchunov, key person in Moscow for international cooperation in the Arctic.

“Obviously, there is a need to think about how to effectively manage transport risks and develop alternative routes to the Suez Canal, first and foremost the North Sea route”Korchunov, Russian Ambassador General, told the news agency Interfax.

Russia has invested heavily in developing the route, allowing ships reduce trips to Asian ports by 15 days compared to using the Suez Canal.

Eastern Arctic transit usually ends in November, but Russia hopes climate change will lead to increased trade benefits from the road.

Another sign of renewed Russian interest in the Arctic came on Monday, when the country approved a socio-economic development program for the arctic territory until 2024, which will involve state investment 19.5 billion rubles, about 260 million dollars. The objective of the quadrennial plan is to ensure the stable development of the region, to create “tens of thousands” of jobs, to support business projects and to attract investors and qualified professionals to the arctic regions, according to the Premier. Minister of Russia, Mikhail Mishustin. In addition, it seeks to ensure the entry of private capital in volumes “much larger” than public investments.

Moscow, in particular, plans to use the road to export oil and gas to foreign markets, while companies, including Russia’s largest LNG producer, Novatek, they are already sailing on the northern route.

In August 2017, the first ship sailed the North Sea route without using an icebreaker.

Although Russia assures us that its intentions are peaceful, Western officials doubt the Kremlin’s true intentions.

Russia expects climate change to lead to increased trade profits from the road

“Russia’s claims on the North Sea route are undoubtedly an effort to set rules on the fly, get de facto acquiescence from the international community and then assert that this is how things are supposed to workA senior State Department official quoted by CNN.

Surprising? No

Russia’s weather monitor said last week that the northern route was “In some years, almost completely free of ice” towards the end of the summer and in 2020 it reached a “Low recording level” of the ice cap.

The Russian nuclear agency, which is the official operator of the Arctic Passage infrastructure, mockingly offered his northern route as an alternative after the Suez blockade, saying the icebreakers would be sent to the rescue if the ships were stranded.

the MV never given, Japanese-owned and Panamanian-flagged, it got stuck in the Suez Canal during a sandstorm, blocking for nearly a week the waterway that connects the Mediterranean to the Red Sea and handles more than 10% of trade. global maritime.

The nuclear agency Rosatom joked that the arctic passage provides “More space to draw original images using their giant ships», Referring to expedition trackers which showed Ever Given traced the outline of a giant penis before getting stuck.

“Russia will use the EVERGIVEN case to attract shipowners to the Arctic”, Arctic expert Mikaa Mered tweeted. “Is it surprising? No.”

“There is a Russian military challenge in the Arctic”

Tensions with the West

In this context, the president Vladimir Putin praised last week’s military exercises and said that the Russian army had has demonstrated its ability to function even “in harsh Nordic environments”.

“The Arctic expedition has no analogues in Soviet and modern Russian history”, said the president.

Retired Russian admiral Viktor Kravchenko told the news agency Interfax that the exercises had to send a “Wave to our foreign friends, the Americans.”

Kravchenko said last week that the exercises would remind the United States that it has competition in the region and show that Russia “has been here for a long time”.

“It is clear that there is a military challenge from the Russians in the Arctic”, the senior State Department official said CNN. “This has implications for the United States and its allies, among other things because it creates the ability to project energy into the North Atlantic.”

Therefore, in February US sent strategic bombers to train in Norway as part of Western efforts to strengthen its military presence in the region.

Also, for the first time since the 1980s, the US Navy deployed an aircraft carrier to the Norwegian Sea in 2018, then several other ships in the Russian Barents Sea Economic Zone the following year.

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