Protecting Russian Arctic interests
Two new Russian Arctic brigades are under planning, Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov says.
The new brigades, which were first announced early this year, will be specially equipped for military warfare in Arctic conditions. It will be set up with DT-30P Vityaz tracked vehicles, in addition to multi-service army equipment, other armored vehicles and tanks.
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The statement from Serdjukov comes just few days after Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in a meeting with United Russia party representatives stressed that Russia will “expand its presence in the Arctic” and “protect its own geopolitical interests in the region in a firm and consistent way”. It also comes just before the start of this week’s NATO-Russia Council meeting in Moscow.
The defence minister indicated to journalists that the brigades will be based either in Murmansk Oblast or Arkhangelsk Oblast. They are still under planning, he stressed. Experiences of the Norwegian, Finnish and Swedish armed forces will be taken into account when the new units are established, Serdjukov said, Rossiiskaya Gazeta reports.
Russian military representatives have earlier signaled that one of the new brigades will be based in Pechenga, the municipality bordering on both Norway and Finland and that the it could be established already in 2011.
Reportedly, Commander of the Russian Ground Forces Aleksander Postnikov was in May this year on a three day visit to military towns in the Kola Peninsula to discuss questions connected to the establishment of the brigades.
Read also:Russian Arctic brigade on border to Norway already in 2011
If established in Pechenga, the new brigade will be located only a few kilometers from the border to Norway and next to the local visa-free zone which will be established in the Russian-Norwegian border area in the near future.
