As Putin’s war on Ukraine rages, the United States and Canada are not facing comparable territorial claims from Spain, England, France or Mexico. Portugal is not preparing her army to invade and retake Brazil. Spain has not cast hungry eyes at most of the rest of Latin America. Russia, ah Russia, has territorial claims far beyond ever the borders that once defined the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, even if you add the Warsaw Pact border nations, and even well beyond the dreams of Russian Tsars and even Genghis Khan himself. The level of Russia’s claims, literally the megalomania of deranged Russian dictator Vladimir Putin, reach well into the Western Hemisphere.
On August 2, 2007, during Putin’s reign, two Russian submersibles planted the above titanium Russian flag under the North Pole. While that was big news in Russia, it slipped by in the Western press as an amusing side story. The New York Times of that date reported: “The dive was a symbolic move to enhance the [Russian] government’s disputed claim to nearly half of the floor of the Arctic Ocean and potential oil or other resources there… The expedition, covered intensely by Russian news organizations and state-controlled television, mixed high-seas adventure with the long Russian tradition of polar exploration. But it was also an openly choreographed publicity stunt.
“Inside the first of the mini-submarines to reach the sea floor were two members of Russia’s lower house of Parliament, one of whom, Artur Chilingarov, had led the expedition to seek evidence reinforcing Russia’s claim over the largely uncharted domain… That claim, which has no current legal standing, rests on a Russian assertion that the seabed under the pole, called the Lomonosov Ridge, is an extension of Russia’s continental shelf and thus Russian territory.”
But Russia is acting on those claims, claiming Artic waters far beyond its territory, including the legendary Northwest Passage, now infinitely more valuable since global climate change is beginning to open to real ship traffic. Russian vessels, and military surveillance and control, are settling in with a military and civilian presence of ships that dwarfs the seagoing capacity of other Arctic nations. 20% of Russia’s natural resources are north of the Arctic Circle, so her desired expansion into this region is a high priority to Moscow.
Russia’s program of building military and civilian capacity in the Arctic carries the label “Project 22220,” and Russia has declared its Northern Fleet as covering a newly designated 5th military district. That presence starts with Russia’s fleet of icebreakers, which is by far “the largest in the world. As of 2019, the fleet include[d] around 30 diesel-powered icebreakers. Russia is the only country in the world to boast several icebreakers powered by nuclear energy [like the one pictured above]. Apart from 4 nuclear-powered icebreakers, Russian fleet also includes the 'Sevmorput' LASH carrier—the largest and currently the only nuclear-powered cargo ship.” Arctic-Russia.com.
“Strategically speaking, the Arctic Ocean is the Silk Road of the 21st century. Given Russia’s historic preoccupation with ice-free routes, it is extremely aware of what it means to have its Northern Fleet astride – and in control of – the emerging shortcut from the Far East joining the North Atlantic and its route towards the Baltic Sea, the home of the Russian Baltic Fleet to the west, to Asia and Vladivostok the home of its Pacific Fleet in the east.” Robin Ashby, director general of the UK Defence Forum, writing for the April 2021 Global Defence Technology (which provides the above map of Russian Arctic military installations).
That Russian Arctic fleet is vastly larger than the comparable US, Canadian, Danish (Greenland) and other impacted European nations’ vessels. Simply, Russia’s military vessels eclipse our defensive efforts in the region, and they are building more, including the 2019 “launch of the Ivan Papanin (Project 23550) military icebreaker. According to Russian sources, it will be equipped with a new missile-defence system, radio-electronic defence, and Poliment-Redut ship-borne anti-aircraft weapons systems. [The ship can operate without resupply and fuel for 70 days; the range of the ship is ten thousand nautical miles.]
“This icebreaker class could be equipped with the 3M22 Tsirkon (Zirkon) scramjet anti-ship hypersonic cruise missile with a reported striking distance of up to 1,000km. The prospect is a little way off, however, as the missile is still undergoing tests and will not become fully operable for at least ‘a couple of years’, according to a Sputnik Radio report in January 2020.” Ashby. Full deployment of that military fleet is expected by 2027, assuming the Russian economy’s continued ability to write the checks.
Russia has also amped up its long-range air cover, reflected in the above map, to protect its claims. “Even as the sea ice clears, conditions in the Arctic will make it difficult to conduct carrier operations, increasing the importance of land-based aircraft. Operating from bases along the rim of the Arctic, the MiG-31 Foxhound—a fast, long-legged interceptor developed from the MiG-25 Foxbat, can cover a lot of space.” nationalinterest.org, July 31, 2021. Russia’s clear intention is to control the entire Northwest Passage, and they have been anything but subtle about that effort. This will include every ship within in that passage having to register with Russia… with Russia’s ability to deny passage to any foreign military ship.
But if you think Russia’s bulging eyes on the Northwest Passage are crazy, remember that Alaska once was Russian territory. When the US purchased that land from the Tsar, they called it Seward’s Folly. “The US acquired Alaska from the Russian Empire on October 19, 1867, through a treaty ratified by the US Senate. Russia had established a presence in North America during the first half of the 18th century, but few Russians ever settled in Alaska. In the aftermath of the Crimean War, Emperor Alexander II of Russia began exploring the possibility of selling Alaska, which would be difficult to defend in any future war from being conquered by his main rival, Britain.
“Following the end of the American Civil War, former US Secretary of State William Seward entered into negotiations with then-Russian minister Eduard de Stoeckl and agreed on the sale… The purchase added 586,412 square miles of new territory to the US for the cost of $7.2million (£5.4million). Today the cost would be equivalent to $132million (£98million)… But on the 150th-anniversary celebration, some Russian nationalists – who see the move as a mistake – were still angry.” Express.co.uk, December 8, 2020. Russia has long maintained that the Tsar never had the right to sell land that rightfully belong to the Russian people.
“The frustration had been growing for some time and left some questioning whether the Kremlin could plan to annex the region as it did with Crimea in 2014… But Mr Putin joked it was not worth the hassle… At a question-and-answer event, the 68-year-old was asked in 2014: ‘Are there any plans to annexe Alaska to Russia?’ ‘We would be very happy [about that].’… Mr Putin responded with a smile: ‘What would you need Alaska for?’” Express.co.uk. Russia recently reminded the West that it “has certain advantages in a number of the latest types of nuclear weapons” as he placed his nuclear deterrent force on “high alert.” He also warned NATO if it interferes with his attack on Ukraine, it would face "consequences you have never seen." Hmmm… Beyond Ukraine?
I’m Peter Dekom, and as we face an unhinged megalomaniacal lunatic with no moral compass and an abundance of military weapons – but little else – it is clear than containing Russia goes way beyond Putin’s war on Ukraine.
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