Northern Fleet is given more weight as Russia attaches greater importance to the North Pole.
Russian newspaper Izvestia reported on its website that the Russian Defense Ministry recently decided to form a new combined-arms army with subordinate motorized rifle brigades, regiments and divisions in its Northern Fleet, the members of which will receive operational training that adapts them to the extreme climate and terrain in the polar region.
Russia has two things in mind in forming the combined-arms army, that is, to enhance its overall combat capability and increase its defensive and deterrence forces in the North Pole, and to respond to NATO's eastward expansion and increasingly frequent military operations in the North Pole. With the escalation of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, it's foreseeable that Moscow will continue to adopt more measures to stand up against NATO, and the relations between the two sides will keep worsening.
To protect its interests and reinforce its military presence in the North Pole, Moscow has established the Northern Fleet and Arctic Joint Strategic Command on the military district level, which has taken over the territory and military units allotted from the Western Military District. Besides, to ramp up its defense forces in the polar region, Moscow has also deployed the Bal and Bastion coastal defense missile systems and other air defense systems on the Arctic Archipelago, along with more intelligence reconnaissance forces on the islands and along the coastline.
Moreover, Russian troops have carried out military exercises regularly in the region, including transferring troops to the North Pole from other regions, conducting special training and real-combat simulation, and performing scientific survey and research in polar environment, with a view to swiftly responding to possible threats and emergencies.
NATO's incessant eastward expansion in recent years has seriously threatened Russia's security, and their relationship has been further deteriorated by the breakout of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. At the same time, NATO is showing a growing interest in the North Pole region. For instance, it is holding the military exercise dubbed Cold Response in Northway every other year, and the latest one involved more than 30,000 people, 200 aircraft and 50 vessels.
Faced with complex changes in the geopolitical and security situations, Russia has stepped up its military deployments in its northwest. It has also decided to form a new air force and air defense army in the west to fend off potential security threats from NATO.
In fact, the Northern Fleet has already made a series of military moves since the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out. According to the Norwegian intelligence agency, vessels of Northern Fleet have started carrying tactical nuclear weapons when they set sail recently, which implies a major change in Moscow's nuclear policy, that is, nuclear weapons are given more weight now.
Forming a new combined-arms army in the Northern Fleet is also a key step taken by Russia to confront NATO in the north. Considering NATO's eastward expansion and more frequent military activities in the North Pole, Russia, through the newly formed army, will deploy mobile combat forces in more areas to assist the Northern Fleet at any time in countering possible military besiege, blockade and deterrence, which is sure to exacerbate the tension and escalate the confrontation between the two sides.
Editor's note: Originally published on thepaper.cn, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
