Page 11 - ARUBA TODAY

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WORLD NEWS Friday 5 april 2019

Russia revamps Arctic military base to stake claim on region

By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV main mission of monitoring
Associated Press the strategic area. In con-
SEVERNY KLEVER MILITARY trast with drab, Soviet-era
BASE, Russia (AP) — Missile facilities, the pristine new
launchers ply icy roads and base features spacious liv-
air defense systems point ing quarters, a gym and a
menacingly into the sky at sauna. Putin’s words about
this Arctic military outpost, the importance of the Arc-
a key vantage point for tic for Russia dot the base’s
Russia to project its power walls and a symbolic bor-
over the resource-rich po- der post sits in a hallway.
lar region. Soldiers at the base say
The base, dubbed Severny they are proud of their mis-
Klever (Northern Clover) for sion despite the challeng-
its trefoil shape, is painted in ing Arctic environment.
the white, blue and red col- “Proving to myself that I can
ors of the Russian national do it raises my self-esteem,”
flag. It has been designed said one of the soldiers,
so soldiers can reach all of Sergei Belogov. “Weather
its sprawling facilities with- is our enemy here, so we
out venturing outdoors — need to protect ourselves
a useful precaution in an from it to serve the Mother-
area where temperatures land.”
often plunge to minus 50 In this photo taken on Wednesday, April 3, 2019, a Russian solder stands guard as Pansyr-S1 Extreme cold and fierce
Celsius (minus 58 Fahren- air defense system on the Kotelny Island, part of the New Siberian Islands archipelago located winds often make it hard to
heit) during the winter, and between the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea, Russia. venture outside, and even
even in the short Arctic Associated Press winterized vehicles may
summer are often freezing also has shown an increas- potential of economic de- from the shore. have trouble operating
at night. ing interest in the polar re- velopment,” said Flemming As part of a multi-pronged when temperatures plunge
It’s strategically located on gion. Splidsboel Hansen of the effort to stake Russia’s to extreme lows and even
Kotelny Island, between But while U.S. President Danish Institute for Interna- claims on the Arctic region, special lubricants freeze.
the Laptev Sea and the Donald Trump’s adminis- tional Studies. “And that’s the Kremlin has poured Russian Defense Minister
East Siberian Sea on the tration has seen the Arctic why there is a need for mili- massive resources into Sergei Shoigu reported to
Arctic shipping route, and through the lens of security tary capacity in the area. It modernizing Soviet-era in- Putin in December that the
permanently houses up to and economic competi- is likely meant as defensive, stallations there. military has rebuilt or ex-
250 military personnel re- tion with Russia and China, but it is being interpreted The military outpost on Ko- panded numerous facilities
sponsible for maintaining it has yet to demonstrate by the West as offensive.” telny Island fell into neglect across the polar region, re-
air and sea surveillance fa- that the region is a signifi- Kristian Soeby Kristensen, after the 1991 collapse vamping runways and de-
cilities and coastal defens- cant priority in its overall a researcher at Copenha- of the Soviet Union, but a ploying air defense assets.
es like anti-ship missiles. foreign policy. The post of gen University in Denmark, massive effort to build a He said renovation works
The Russian base has special U.S. representative said the problem of Russian new base began in 2014 were conducted on a long
enough supplies to remain for the Arctic has remained hegemony in the Arctic and took several years. string of Arctic territories.
fully autonomous for more vacant since Trump as- was most obvious to Nor- A group of reporters The expanded infrastruc-
than a year. sumed office. way. brought to the island by ture has allowed the Rus-
“Our task is to monitor the Russia, however, has made “Norway is a small country, the Russian Defense Min- sian military to restore full
airspace and the northern reaffirming its presence in whose next-door neighbor istry on Wednesday were radar coverage of the
sea route,” said base com- the Arctic a top goal, not is mighty Russia, which has shown Bastion anti-ship mis- nation’s 22,600-kilometer
mander Lt. Col. Vladimir the least because the re- placed the bulk of its mili- sile launchers positioned for (14,000-mile) Arctic frontier
Pasechnik. “We have all we gion is believed to hold tary capacity right next to a drill near the shore and and deploy fighter jets to
need for our service and up to one-quarter of the them,” Soeby Kristensen Pantsyr-S1 air defense sys- protect its airspace.
comfortable living.” Earth’s undiscovered oil said. “Norway is extraordi- tems firing shots at a prac- The military also has un-
Russia is not alone in trying and gas. Russian President narily worried.” tice target. dertaken a cleanup effort
to assert jurisdiction over Vladimir Putin has cited es- In 2015, Russia submitted The Russian military has across the region, working
parts of the Arctic, as shrink- timates that put the value to the United Nations a re- kept Western media from to remove tens of thou-
ing polar ice opens fresh of Arctic mineral riches at vised bid for vast territories visiting its Arctic facilities, sands of tons of waste from
opportunities for resource $30 trillion. The move has in the Arctic. It claimed 1.2 so the trip offered a unique the Arctic territories, most
exploration and new ship- alarmed Russia’s neigh- million square kilometers opportunity to watch the of it rusty fuel tanks left be-
ping lanes. The United bors, analysts say. (over 463,000 square miles) Russian expansion up close. hind by the Soviet military.
States, Canada, Denmark “In Russia, the Northern sea of Arctic sea shelf, extend- A big radar dome looms on The Russian soldiers share
and Norway are jostling for route has been described ing more than 350 nautical a hill overlooking the coast, the island with polar bears,
position, as well, and China as a bonanza with lots of miles (about 650 kilometers) underlining the base’s arctic foxes and wolves.q