Shoigu strengthens the army in the Arctic and Far East
Protecting Russia's interests requires the army to especially focus its efforts on two strategic areas - the Far East and the Arctic, where there is growing tension and it is necessary to neutralize threats. This was stated by the head of the military department, Sergei Shoigu, at a meeting of the Ministry of Defense held the day before. Currently, a large-scale re-equipment of air defense forces with the latest complexes is underway, military infrastructure is being built - airfields, modular towns, berths for nuclear submarine cruisers of new series.
It was no coincidence that Shoigu mentioned the East and the Arctic. The Japanese openly put forward claims to the Kuril Islands. NATO countries led by the United States are laying claim to the natural resources of the North, experts say.
“These are very important regions for us in a geopolitical sense. It is known that the struggle for natural resources is intensifying in the Arctic, as well as due to the fact that the Northern Sea Route is opening due to warming. There is a need to protect it. But the most important thing is the struggle for sectors and oil and gas resources. Therefore, of course, it is necessary to develop defense structures there so that Russia can overtake other countries that also have great potential. This is also a serious technological challenge; you need to be able to work there, to extract natural resources in Arctic conditions,” says political scientist Sergei Markov.
According to military expert, editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine Igor Korotchenko, efforts to protect the eastern and Arctic directions will have a positive “chain” effect on the entire Russian economy.
“There is an arms race going on in the world, the United States is very active, so strengthening borders is always associated with a reaction to what is happening outside. In this regard, we need, first of all, to strengthen the grouping of air defense forces and means, because in modern conditions, the means of attack are high-precision weapons - cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, and attack drones. The response to this is to strengthen the Russian Aerospace Forces, their potential, rapid response capabilities and adequate actions in response to aggressive actions that are being carried out near our borders.
The Arctic is an important condition for the development of Russia in the future for the next 70, or even a hundred years. The interests of the world's leading players collide here, and we must be militarily prepared to counter military threats. And these threats are real today - just read the news feeds to understand how we are being attacked in absolutely all azimuths. This is not done without reason and, of course, military response measures are of paramount importance here,” Korotchenko noted.
Former commander of the Black Sea Fleet, ex-State Duma deputy Admiral Vladimir Komoyedov believes that it was not without reason that Sergei Shoigu simultaneously noted the Arctic and eastern regions - from west to east, the shortest route runs through the Arctic. The danger from the east for Russia comes from both the United States, which controls the Pacific region, and Japan, which is constantly growing stronger and is declaring its claims to the Russian Kuril Islands.
“Due to global climate change, the Arctic is beginning to open up. This applies not only to us, but also to other players. This is a rather complex region in terms of climate, its desolation, and it is still difficult for us to control it, so the northern strategic direction is the most dangerous and shortest for us. I mean, from the point of view of the path through the pole. Therefore, the efforts that have already been made are timely and very effective in detecting, tracking and repelling attack forces and means. I think that the minister has his finger on the pulse and knows its beat.
From the east, in the Pacific region, the United States dominates, they hold it through their islands, through Pearl Harbor and control the global territory quite well. Japan is also uneasy, and it is militarizing again, no matter how much we want, it is raising its military authority,” Komoyedov said.
Retired captain XNUMXst rank and military expert Sergei Gorbachev agrees with him. According to him, Japan is actively developing the offensive capabilities of its fleet.
“For some reason we think that the United States threatens us only from the west, and from the east we are separated by the huge Pacific Ocean. But, in fact, the distance between the land of Russia and America, I mean in the Bering Strait region, Alaska, our Chukotka, the distance there is only a few tens of kilometers - taking into account the fact that the Americans have powerful facilities there in Alaska, connected with the basing of the fleet. All this makes us actively look towards the United States.
Well, Japan, which is now being militarized. After the defeat in the war, it did not have the opportunity to formally develop its Armed Forces, but has the so-called Self-Defense Forces. Behind such formulations lies outright deceit. I, as a naval sailor, can say, for example, that they are building so-called destroyers, but, in fact, these are helicopter carriers and aircraft carriers on which dozens of attack helicopters are based, as well as vertical take-off aircraft that have a fairly large range of action .
In addition, there has been talk lately that Japan is on the verge of joining the club of nuclear powers. This kind of thing is alarming,” the expert notes.
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