Russia plans to station troops in the Arctic:

[darrels joy]

Russia plans to station troops in the Arctic: document



Russia will turn the Arctic in its "leading strategic resource base" by 2020 and station troops there, the national security council said Friday, as nations race to stake a claim to the oil-rich region.

The country's strategy for the Arctic through 2020 adopted last year and now published on the council's website says one of Russia's main goals for the region is the establishment of troops "capable of ensuring military security."

The strategy also calls for the "creation of actively functioning system of the Federal Security Service coastal guard," in a sign that the KGB's successor agency seeks to tighten its control of the region.

"The Northern Pole is turning into a hot spot," Kommersant newspaper said on Friday. A Security Council spokesman declined immediate comment.

According to the strategy, the Arctic should become Russia's "leading strategic resource base" between 2016 and 2020.

To make that possible, the country should finalize the borders of the Russian Arctic and ensure realization of "Russia's competitive advantages in exploration and transportation of energy resources" between 2011 and 2015, the document says.

Scientists say that global warming is opening up Arctic resources for exploration, sending nations with Arctic coastlines to stake a claim to the resource-rich region.

Five countries bordering the Arctic Ocean -- Russia, Canada, Denmark, Norway and the United States -- dispute the sovereignty over parts of the region, which has been estimated to contain around 90 billion untapped barrels of oil.

Moscow in 2001 submitted a request to the UN to extend its territory to the Laminose Ridge, a mountain chain running underneath the Arctic.

Russian scientists last year planted a flag on the ocean floor beneath the North Pole in a symbolic bid to stake a claim over the region.

http://beeqube.com/article/russiapl