Russian Navy Begins Stockpiling Military Supplies and Equipment at Remote Arctic Bases

Atle Staalesen

June 4, 2015 

Russian navy sending nearly 45,000 tons of goods to Arctic bases 

Vessels are shuttling Arctic waters to bunker up the Northern Fleet’s 48 remote bases in Russia. 

The first vessel loaded with foodstuff, technical equipment and various other goods this week left towards Ostrovnoy, the closed military town located on the eastern end of the Kola Peninsula. 

The vessel will soon be followed by a string of more ships, some of them navy vessels, other civilian, a press release from the Northern Fleet says. In the course of summer, a total of 44,800 tons of goods will be send to the Navy bases. The Northern Fleet operates a total of 60 military units based in 48 sites all over the Russian Arctic, many of them in the Kola Peninsula and along the White Sea.

Among the bases which will be supplied are also the newly reopened bases at Franz Josef Land, Novaya Zemlya, New Siberian Islands and Severnaya Zemlya. 

Reviving Soviet airfields 

Russia is reconstructing abandoned Soviet airfields all over the Arctic, including in the Franz Josef Land, the Novaya Zemlya and New Siberian Islands. In addition, the Northern Fleet`s Severomorsk-1 is getting a facelift. Also the airfields of Tiksi, Naryan-Mar, Alykel, Anadyr, Nagurskoye are getting more operational. 

“We are returning to the Arctic and must possess all instruments of power for the protection of our national security interests,” President Vladimir Putin told his top military brass in late 2013.