Russian military leaders are still working out the specifics of the deployment. But the move is likely to mean thousands of troops will be positioned in key port areas, possibly in Murmansk and Arkhangelsk.

 

The Arctic sea floor is believed to hold as much as a quarter of the world’s oil and gas reserves, and Russia intends to get a significant portion of these resources. Moscow bases its claim on an underwater ridge running from northern Siberia to the North Pole.

 

In a symbolic gesture, a Russian submarine planted the nation’s flag four years ago on the ocean floor to mark its claim.

 

Russia is certainly not the first nation to militarize the Arctic. Canada, Finland, Norway and Sweden all have northern forces stationed in the region, and the United Kingdom has discussed forming a “mini-NATO” with at least eight European nations interested in exploiting what lies beneath the shrinking polar ice cap.

 

The U.S. Department of the Navy has a five-year plan of its own that it drew up in 2009 for developing “policy, strategy, force structure and investment” in the Arctic. The plan acknowledges global warming and says the Arctic is heating up twice as fast as the rest of the world. It foresees ice-free summers there by 2030.  

-Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Russia Creates Two Brigades of Arctic Troops (by Thomas Grove, Reuters)

Russia to Deploy Troops to Defend Interests in Arctic (by Alan Cullison, Wall Street Journal)

Arctic Military Bases Signal New Cold War (by Tim Reid, The Times of London)

Arctic Military Posturing Heats Up (by Jacquelyn Ryan, Medill National Security Reporting Project)

Britain Spearheads "Mini-NATO" in Arctic Ocean, Baltic Sea (by Rick Rozoff, Centre for Research on Globalization)

Canada Uses Military Might in Arctic Scramble (by Ewen MacAskill, The Guardian)

As Arctic Ice Melts, U.S. Competes for Oil, Gold and other Resources (by David Wallechinsky and Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)

U.S. Navy Prepares for Militarization of the Arctic (by Noel Brinkerhoff, AllGov)