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Russia recently invited foreign journalists to tour its new base in the Arctic region.
Several media organizations were invited to see Russia's Alakurtti base, located above the Arctic Circle. The newly expanded site is about 250 miles from Murmansk and borders with Finland. The facility is a Soviet Union-era base, which is surrounded by forest and heavy snow.
Alakurtti shares a peninsula, that is coined the “unsinkable aircraft-carrier,” with a number of other airbases. In the Soviet era, Russia had deployed a large complement of military forces for strategic purposes. But after the fall of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, troops evacuated, the bases were largely unoccupied and so fell into disrepair.
Russia has launched a comeback to the region. Over the past two years, Russia has built up its military presence and is in the process of constructing new bases, refurbishing the old ones as well as improving its communications infrastructure.
As the ice in and around the Arctic melts, the region is quickly becoming a geopolitical asset, with shipping routes reemerging and resources being discovered. The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that 13 percent of the world's undiscovered oil and 30 percent of its gas is located in that region.
But while other Arctic countries, including the U.S., have barely shown interests in the region, Russia has hit the ground running. “For the scale of what Russia is doing, it’s hard to find a comparison in any of the other Arctic states,” said Katarzyna Zysk, a visiting research fellow at the University of Oxford and an associate professor at the Norwegian Institute for Defense Studies, who has researched Russian military policy in the Arctic.
Russia's most impressive new base is a huge new facility on Franz Josef Land. In March, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the base, which is known as the “Northern Shamrock.” The location will reportedly host 150 personnel and air defence units.
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Russia is currently building three additional bases in the Arctic, and says it is creating an air defence shield to cover much of the northern coast. Some of these facilities will serve dual purposes; providing infrastructural support to the Northern Sea Route. Russia has also petitioned the UN to lay territorial claim to 460,000 square miles of the ocean floor.
In relation to its positioning, the Alakurtti base's only military purpose would be in defense or attack against Finland. But, the Russian military sees the Arctic as a vulnerable area, especially in the event of a conflict with the U.S. and or NATO. They also see great economic potential in establishing an infrastructure that will facilitate shipping, while accessing resources in the long term.
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