According to Security Council Chief Nikolai Patrushev, Russia will establish infrastructure hubs along the Northern Sea Route that stretches along Russia’s Arctic coast from Murmansk on the Barents Sea to the Bering Strait in the Far East, RIA Novosti news portal reports.
The idea behind the hubs is to serve as temporary stations for Russian warships and border guard vessels. The authorities have designed a list of “key double-purpose sites in remote areas of the Arctic seas along the Northern Sea Route” to enable “temporary stationing of Russian Navy warships and vessels operated by the Federal Security Service’s Border Guard Department,” Patrushev said during a meeting with officials in Siberia.
Russia is planning to deploy a combined-arms force by 2020 to safeguard its political and economic interests in the Arctic in order to adhere to Russia’s Arctic doctrine, approved in 2008, which outlines state policies aimed at maintaining Russia’s role as a “major Arctic nation” and strengthening security and stability in the region.
In April, the Russian government presented the USD 44 billion worth plans targeting economic and social projects in the Arctic, scheduled for implementation before 2020. These projects will include the creation of new transportation corridors and the development of new hydrocarbon deposits and social infrastructure in the region.
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World Maritime News Staff, August 7, 2012