Russia revamps Arctic military base to stake claim on region

Missile launchers ply icy roads and air defense systems point menacingly into the sky at this Arctic military outpost, a key vantage point for Russia to project its power over the resource-rich polar region.

The base, dubbed Severny Klever (Northern Clover) for its trefoil shape, is painted in the white, blue and red colors of the Russian national flag. It has been designed so soldiers can reach all of its sprawling facilities without venturing outdoors a useful precaution in an area where temperatures often plunge to minus 50 degree Celsius during the winter, and even in the short Arctic summer are often freezing at night.

It's strategically located on Kotelny Island, between the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea on the Arctic shipping route, and permanently houses up to 250 military personnel responsible for maintaining air and sea surveillance facilities and coastal defenses like anti-ship missiles.

The Russian base has enough supplies to remain fully autonomous for more than a year.

"Our task is to monitor the airspace and the northern sea route," said base commander Lt. Col. Vladimir Pasechnik. "We have all we need for our service and comfortable living."
"In Russia, the Northern sea route has been described as a bonanza with lots of potential of economic development," said Flemming Splidsboel Hansen of the Danish Institute for International Studies. "And that's why there is a need for military capacity in the area. It is likely meant as defensive, but it is being interpreted by the West as offensive."
"Norway is a small country, whose next-door neighbour is mighty Russia, which has placed the bulk of its military capacity right next to them," Soeby Kristensen said. "Norway is extraordinarily worried."
"Proving to myself that I can do it raises my self-esteem," said one of the soldiers, Sergei Belogov. "Weather is our enemy here, so we need to protect ourselves from it to serve the Motherland."