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Navy landing operation in the Arctic

Soldiers and officers from the Northern Fleet on their way to the Kotelny island (Photo: the Northern Fleet's press service)

The Northern Fleet’s naval infantry earlier this autumn conducted Russia’s first ever amphibious landing on the Arctic archipelago of the New Siberian Islands.

Location

In September this year the Russian navy held a large-scale naval exercise in the Arctic, as BarentsObserver reported. More than 7000 people and some 20 vessels, both surface ships and submarines, were involved. 

One of the main aims with the exercise was to test the Northern Fleet’s coastal units’ readiness to provide safety for remote scientific, industrial and energy objects in different parts of the Russian Arctic.

During the exercise the navy studied new operation areas and possible locations for landing of forces on the Arctic coast, the Northern Fleet’s press service writes on its Facebook page

The Northern Fleet’s naval infantry brigade conducted a landing operation on the island of Kotelny, the largest of the New Siberian Islands.  The landing operations were made from the Ropucha class landing ship “Aleksander Otrakovsky” on PTS-M medium amphibious transport vehicles. 

Commander of the Northern Fleet’s naval infantry Captain Aleksander Anufriyev has been recommended by the Northern Fleet Command to receive the “Medal of Suvorov” for his accomplishments in the Arctic. 

Russia has repeatedly signaled that it wants to increase its military presence in the Arctic. By 2013 the country plans to base a group of supersonic interceptor Mig-31 aircraft on the archipelago of Novaya Zemlya and two army brigades are to be reorganized into so-called Arctic brigades, especially equipped for operations in winter conditions.