In Philip Pullman’s popular 'His Dark Materials' series, there is a race of largely solitary armored bears who have a society based on the real-life island of Svalbard. They are known as the Panserbjorne, they guard their territories and consider honorable fighting as sacrosanct. They also have opposable thumbs, giving them the ability to manipulate complex objects as do humans, and they consider their armor, what can be considered their clothing, to be their souls.
Likewise, to defend Russian interests in its Arctic territories spanning a broad section of the country from the European Nordic regions to almost the tip of American Alaska, Russia is training their own hoped-for group of ‘armored bears’ to have specialist training in Arctic warfare and to guard a string of frozen outposts across Russia’s Siberian regions. It has been publicized recently that Russia is moving its first group of military forces to conduct this duty in what used to be the Finnish Lapland, at the previously nearly-abandoned station of Alakurtii Air Base north of the Arctic Circle on the Kola Peninsula. Finland proper is only 60 kilometers away from where a token force of American military units is working with Finnish troops to have a small winter training course of their own.
The purpose of this new tasked element of Russia, or at least ‘new’ as of the collapse of the Soviet Union, is no less than the defense of Russia’s huge amount of yet-untapped stockpiles of Arctic resources, oil, gas, and the like, from whatever might come. Indeed, an estimated 15% of the Earth’s remaining oil, 30% of the remaining natural gas, and 20% of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) is said to be located in the Arctic regions.
This militarization movement is not unique to Russia; under International law, the broader (non-Russian) Arctic territories also belong to Canada, the U.S., Denmark, and Norway. The totality of these nations has been focused on moving to potentially protect territories and resources newly opened due to the melting of ice and now-accessible new corridors across the once-deeply frozen lands of the Arctic.
Yet, Russia has been the most forceful in opening up this terrain, as Russia has been pushing the boundaries of its Arctic claim by planting flags on the seabed and making advantageous assertions about its possession of the far northern continental shelf. Based on these claims, and stimulated by aggressive foreign policies in Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova, Russia has been forced to look for more resources to encourage economic activity, and also to support the country currently under the heel of strong European Union and American sanctions.
These sanctions are attempting to deter ambitious Russian foreign policies of supporting rebels in Eastern Ukraine, yet are having the effect of bringing Russia to consider direct utilization of resource bases previously overlooked. This also includes the securing of those same resources; security possible only with new substantial Arctic contingent and naval elements specifically trained for this work.
Nevertheless, such an Arctic force requires infrastructure. Currently, Russia is building ten new military airfields scheduled to be completed by 2016 to support this new military structure. The Russian Federation is also forming an Arctic Command whose sole purpose is the coordination of these activities primarily through the utilization of the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet. More military assets, including an air defense division, will almost certainly accompany these forces in the chilly terrain, dotted across land bases and the many islands of Russia’s Arctic. Approximately 2,000 to 3,000 Russian military personnel are currently supporting Russia’s Northern Fleet and some of these personnel will almost certainly become stationed at some of these bases, alongside (and resupplied by) the Northern Fleet ships based in (amongst other ‘current’ bases) Severomorsk near Murmansk and its satellite installations.
Also necessary for this force will be Russia's ice-breaking fleet, because, though the sea-passages have melted more than before, the fleet currently represents a substantive and serious impediment to free movement in the region. Due to the very cold nature therein, such a base, when cut off by sea ice or bad weather conditions, is in an increasingly perilous position. The weather conditions alone make such bases potentially more subject to an internal or external catastrophe that could take place for the personnel serving in these new installations should the right frozen conditions delay any scheduled resupply. When temperatures drop precipitously within Siberia, parts of Siberia reach -50 degrees Fahrenheit, ultimately making supply and potential evacuation operations of sick or injured personnel becoming all the more important on a timely basis. Russia must also prepare and train its military personnel to ensure they have the convoy capabilities for land, sea, and air to transport supplies over vast distances—even if this requirement is rarely needed.
It is estimated that within the next few years, given that Russia’s economy can successfully obtain the required funding for this initiative (considering the drop in oil prices and Western sanctions) Russia will likely have at least two functioning well-equipped brigades of Arctic troops ready for battle during the long cold winters and slightly better (however short) summers. To entice such soldiers, Sergei Pirogov, the director of the Defense Ministry's housing department, recently promised them possible real estate in southern Russia and Crimea. They will be the true Russian armored bears, potentially facing off against their Nordic, Canadian, and American ‘bear counterparts’ across the frozen territories of the World’s far north where each country looks to make their next fortune.
Jason Vaughn is a Russia, Eurasia, and Central Asia cultural, political, and military analyst who has worked for government agencies and non-government organizations for the past 15 years. He has lived across Eurasia and Eastern Europe and has conducted extensive public opinion surveys and modeling in Russia. He holds a MA degree in Politics and an MPhil research degree in Russian Politics with University College London.
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Russian Armored Bears
March 24, 2015
In Philip Pullman’s popular 'His Dark Materials' series, there is a race of largely solitary armored bears who have a society based on the real-life island of Svalbard. They are known as the Panserbjorne, they guard their territories and consider honorable fighting as sacrosanct. They also have opposable thumbs, giving them the ability to manipulate complex objects as do humans, and they consider their armor, what can be considered their clothing, to be their souls.
Likewise, to defend Russian interests in its Arctic territories spanning a broad section of the country from the European Nordic regions to almost the tip of American Alaska, Russia is training their own hoped-for group of ‘armored bears’ to have specialist training in Arctic warfare and to guard a string of frozen outposts across Russia’s Siberian regions. It has been publicized recently that Russia is moving its first group of military forces to conduct this duty in what used to be the Finnish Lapland, at the previously nearly-abandoned station of Alakurtii Air Base north of the Arctic Circle on the Kola Peninsula. Finland proper is only 60 kilometers away from where a token force of American military units is working with Finnish troops to have a small winter training course of their own.
The purpose of this new tasked element of Russia, or at least ‘new’ as of the collapse of the Soviet Union, is no less than the defense of Russia’s huge amount of yet-untapped stockpiles of Arctic resources, oil, gas, and the like, from whatever might come. Indeed, an estimated 15% of the Earth’s remaining oil, 30% of the remaining natural gas, and 20% of its liquefied natural gas (LNG) is said to be located in the Arctic regions.
This militarization movement is not unique to Russia; under International law, the broader (non-Russian) Arctic territories also belong to Canada, the U.S., Denmark, and Norway. The totality of these nations has been focused on moving to potentially protect territories and resources newly opened due to the melting of ice and now-accessible new corridors across the once-deeply frozen lands of the Arctic.
Yet, Russia has been the most forceful in opening up this terrain, as Russia has been pushing the boundaries of its Arctic claim by planting flags on the seabed and making advantageous assertions about its possession of the far northern continental shelf. Based on these claims, and stimulated by aggressive foreign policies in Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova, Russia has been forced to look for more resources to encourage economic activity, and also to support the country currently under the heel of strong European Union and American sanctions.
These sanctions are attempting to deter ambitious Russian foreign policies of supporting rebels in Eastern Ukraine, yet are having the effect of bringing Russia to consider direct utilization of resource bases previously overlooked. This also includes the securing of those same resources; security possible only with new substantial Arctic contingent and naval elements specifically trained for this work.
Nevertheless, such an Arctic force requires infrastructure. Currently, Russia is building ten new military airfields scheduled to be completed by 2016 to support this new military structure. The Russian Federation is also forming an Arctic Command whose sole purpose is the coordination of these activities primarily through the utilization of the Russian Navy’s Northern Fleet. More military assets, including an air defense division, will almost certainly accompany these forces in the chilly terrain, dotted across land bases and the many islands of Russia’s Arctic. Approximately 2,000 to 3,000 Russian military personnel are currently supporting Russia’s Northern Fleet and some of these personnel will almost certainly become stationed at some of these bases, alongside (and resupplied by) the Northern Fleet ships based in (amongst other ‘current’ bases) Severomorsk near Murmansk and its satellite installations.
Also necessary for this force will be Russia's ice-breaking fleet, because, though the sea-passages have melted more than before, the fleet currently represents a substantive and serious impediment to free movement in the region. Due to the very cold nature therein, such a base, when cut off by sea ice or bad weather conditions, is in an increasingly perilous position. The weather conditions alone make such bases potentially more subject to an internal or external catastrophe that could take place for the personnel serving in these new installations should the right frozen conditions delay any scheduled resupply. When temperatures drop precipitously within Siberia, parts of Siberia reach -50 degrees Fahrenheit, ultimately making supply and potential evacuation operations of sick or injured personnel becoming all the more important on a timely basis. Russia must also prepare and train its military personnel to ensure they have the convoy capabilities for land, sea, and air to transport supplies over vast distances—even if this requirement is rarely needed.
It is estimated that within the next few years, given that Russia’s economy can successfully obtain the required funding for this initiative (considering the drop in oil prices and Western sanctions) Russia will likely have at least two functioning well-equipped brigades of Arctic troops ready for battle during the long cold winters and slightly better (however short) summers. To entice such soldiers, Sergei Pirogov, the director of the Defense Ministry's housing department, recently promised them possible real estate in southern Russia and Crimea. They will be the true Russian armored bears, potentially facing off against their Nordic, Canadian, and American ‘bear counterparts’ across the frozen territories of the World’s far north where each country looks to make their next fortune.
Jason Vaughn is a Russia, Eurasia, and Central Asia cultural, political, and military analyst who has worked for government agencies and non-government organizations for the past 15 years. He has lived across Eurasia and Eastern Europe and has conducted extensive public opinion surveys and modeling in Russia. He holds a MA degree in Politics and an MPhil research degree in Russian Politics with University College London.
