Russia launches Arctic expedition, beefs up military presence
Jeff Davis/Postmedia News/July 6, 2011
http://www.canada.com/news/Russia+launches+Arctic+expedition+beefs+military+presence/5060448/story.html#ixzz1RMbFjApl
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A Russian scientific expedition — led by a nuclear-powered icebreaker — has set sail on a mission to solidify Russia's claim to a resource-laden tract of the Arctic seafloor, in a summer that will see intensified military activity in the high Arctic.
Russia has also announced it will station two new Arctic warfare brigades north of 60 degrees — a move that will expand Russia's northern military capabilities far beyond those of Canada.
The research vessel Academik Fyodorov will conduct a sub-sea mapping exercise of the Lomonosov and Mendeleev ridges in Russia's second mission to determine the boundaries of Russia's Arctic continental shelf.
If Russia's claims to these two ridges named for iconic Russian scientists is successful, they will gain more than one million square kilometres of Arctic territory.
In 2012, Russia will submit these and other data to a United Nations panel that will decide which nations own which sections of the Arctic seabed. The five Arctic nations — Canada, Denmark, Norway, Russia and the United States — are locked in a tight race to gather evidence to support their claims amid reports that global warming could leave the region ice-free by 2030.
"I expect that next year we will present a well-based scientific claim about expanding the borders of our Arctic shelf," Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said in the northern town of Naryan-Mar, as the expedition set sail Wednesday.
"The expedition is equipped with modern equipment and everything necessary for a proper and scientific claim," he said told Russia's ITAR-TASS news agency.
The Arctic seabed is believed to hold 13 per cent of the world's undiscovered oil reserves and 30 per cent of the gas resources yet to be found, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Russia will do more than conduct mere scientific missions in the Arctic this summer.
The Russian military is putting together two brigades of specially trained Arctic troops to protect Russian interests, Russian Defence Minister Anatoly Serdyukov announced on July 1. A brigade typically consists of 3,000 to 5,000 troops.
"The general staff is currently drafting plans to establish two such formations. Those plans should take into account deployment sites, armaments, number of servicemen and infrastructure," the defence minister said.
The minister said the northern Russian cities of Murmansk or Arkhangelsk are being considered as the bases for the new Arctic warfare units.
Also last week, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced plans to build a $33-billion year-round port on the Yamal Peninsula, in the Russian Arctic.
While Canada does not have such ambitious plans for infrastructure or military bases in the Arctic, the Canadian Forces will be mounting a large show of force in the Arctic this summer.
Operation Nanook is to play out in several phases on and near Baffin Island and Ellesmere Island throughout August, with more than 1,000 Canadian Forces personnel participating. It will involve CF-18 fighter jets as well a surveillance and transport aircraft, a warship, infantry companies from Quebec and Alberta, and 5 Canadian Ranger Patrol Group — Inuit reservists who have broad experience surviving in the extreme environment of the Far North.
"It will be the largest operation that has taken place in recent history," Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Saturday in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
"All of this is very much about enlarging the footprint and the permanent and seasonal presence we have in the North. It is something that we as a government intend to keep investing in."
Piotr Dutkiewicz, a professor of Russian studies at Carleton University, said Russian and Canadian claims to the Arctic seafloor overlap, and tensions stand to increase.
"The Canadians are also claiming part of this territory, so I see on the horizon some conflicting claims on this part of the Arctic,"
He said Canada's military and scientific presence in the Arctic pales in comparison to Russia's.
"At the moment, obviously, we are no match for the Russians," he said. "The Russians are stronger, better and have more money."
But while Russia has better scientific capacity, superior icebreaking and military capacity, Dutkiewicz said, Canada has a few northern strengths as well. He pointed out Canada's stricter environmental and biodiversity protections, better health and social conditions in the north, and excellent satellite technology.
He said co-operation, rather than conflict, will best serve Canada's national interest.
"If we start competition, at the moment, we may lose," he said. "If we start co-operation, we may win."
(With files from Agence France-Presse and Matthew Fisher, Postmedia News)
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