Russia’s arctic military ambitions

For an in depth look at arctic security dynamics, SOFREP has provided a two part article on the subject.  Some additional information from the Russian perspective is available from the Financial Times in the below article. -Jack

Government officials and scholars argue that the Northern Sea Route (NSR), a historic sea link between Europe and Asia traditionally known in the west as the Northeast Passage, is being reborn. Moscow hopes that such a revival could also resurrect its far northern regions – one-fifth of the country’s territory.

“The warming creates great opportunities and now we are talking a lot in our country about developing this passage between Europe and Asia,” says Vladimir Kotlyakov, scientific director of the Institute of Geography at the Russian Academy of Sciences. “If you have atomic-powered vessels, the possibility to navigate the Arctic becomes, generally speaking, quite a routine business,” he says, a reference to ships with icebreaking capacity. “That provides extra opportunities for development of the Russian Arctic.”

Read the rest here.