Russia’s ‘Polar Bear Spetznas’ Step Up Defense of Country’s Arсtic Borders
SputnikNews.com
12.07.2016
Amid NATO’s buildup along Russia’s borders, including in the Arctic region, Moscow is stepping up efforts to strengthen its northern defense. Moreover, in addition to the Navy and Aerospace Defense Forces, the Arctic’s defense is increasingly coming to depend on troops from the ground forces – serving under extremely harsh climactic conditions.
Analyzing the Russian military efforts to defend its vast Arctic expanse in a piece for the independent news and analysis website PolitRussia, journalist Oleg Polevoy recalled that “while Arctic motorized rifle units appear from time to time in the Russian media, the general public knows little about them; collecting information from television and newspapers is a painstaking process.”
For a long time, the journalist recalled, “the only infantry unit in the entire Russian North was the 200th Motorized Rifle Brigade at Pechenga, Murmansk Region. That unit was established in 1997 on the basis of the old Soviet 131st Motorized Rifle Division…It’s obvious that a single brigade for the defense of territory including the entire Kola Peninsula and Chukotka was, to put it mildly, insufficient, but it’s good that it was least was preserved in the 90s,” a very difficult period for the country and its defense capabilities.
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