Arctic region (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

StratRisks (Source: RIA), October 14, 2013   Russian army special forces units have had their first training sessions in Arctic warfare, under plans to boost the country’s military presence in the region, a Western Military District spokesman said Monday.   According to Col. Oleg Kochetkov, Russian special forces reconnaissance units have carried out a number of training missions on the Kola Peninsula under an experimental program simulating combat in the polar regions’ mountainous terrain…

…According to the Russian military, two arctic brigades will be deployed in Russia’s extreme north over the next few years. Russia also plans to return to mothballed Soviet-era… (more)

Related articles

• What Russia’s Treatment of Greenpeace Activists Reveals About its Arctic Policy (theatlantic.com)
• Russia Intensifies Control Over Northern Sea Route Shipping, But Suez May Still Win (businessinsider.com)
• Russia’s Military Is Back (nationalinterest.org)
• Russia to flex muscle in oil-rich Arctic, establish Soviet-era base (calgaryherald.com)
• Putin to restore Soviet military base for new Arctic expansion (thestar.com)
• Russia revives naval presence in Arctic (thehindu.com)
• Russia commences Arctic naval patrols (newscientist.com)