The Ministry of Defense has begun to create a coastal defense division in Chukotka. At the end of last year, the first regiment was formed, which took up combat duty. The unit will patrol the coast and will have at its disposal everything necessary to repel the landing. The area of operation of the new part will extend along the Northern Sea Route up to Wrangel Island. According to experts, the connection should provide safer navigation in the region.
The Ministry of Defense has begun to create a coastal defense division in Chukotka. At the end of last year, the first regiment was formed, which took up combat duty. The unit will patrol the coast and will have at its disposal everything necessary to repel the landing. The area of operation of the new part will extend along the Northern Sea Route up to Wrangel Island. According to experts, the connection should provide safer navigation in the region.
Regiment by regiment
As sources in the military department told Izvestia, the formation of the division began at the end of last year. Currently, the first coastal defense regiment has already been deployed in Chukotka. Its important task will be to control the coast along the Northern Sea Route. In the region, where snow lies for nine months of the year and strong winds blow, the created part will receive special equipment — snowmobiles, modular life support systems, field canteens-all-terrain vehicles, the sources explained. However, the timing of when the connection will be fully staffed and ready for service is still unknown.
For the first time, the head of the military department, Sergei Shoigu, spoke about plans to create a division in Chukotka in 2016. Then "Izvestia" wrote that it should include unique units that will operate on four - and six-wheeled ATVs. Their task is to patrol the coast and prevent the landing of saboteurs. In the event of a large-scale assault by enemy troops, the Arctic infantry will quickly move to the threatened direction and immediately take the fight.
In December 2020, at the final board, the Minister of Defense announced the formation of the first regiment in the region. However, the location of his deployment was not disclosed. Currently, on several resources dedicated to job search, you can find ads for the recruitment of military personnel under a contract for service in Chukotka. In particular, for the positions of snipers-scouts.
- The division will be able to cover the air defense facilities located in the region. But the main thing is to ensure navigation along the Northern Sea Route — " military expert Viktor Murakhovsky told Izvestia. — At the Vostok-2018 exercise, the transition of some ships of the Northern Fleet to the Pacific Ocean along this route was practiced. This is a big strategic task for the Russian fleet, which is divided into four groups. In Chukotka, it is important to have a connection that is able to provide both defense and cover for this direction. Of course, in cooperation with the VKS.
After the creation of the division in Chukotka, navigation along the Northern Sea Route will become safer, the former chief of the General Staff of the Russian Navy, Admiral Valentin Selivanov, told Izvestia.
"A division is a powerful tactical unit capable of operating independently," the admiral explained. — It can solve different tasks. As you know, foreign vessels, and even more so warships, can not go along the Northern Sea Route without the permission of Russia. If a ship violates this rule, our military personnel will be able to land on it from helicopters or from boats and conduct a search. And given the powerful equipment that can work in snowy conditions, the troops can also conduct humanitarian operations. For example, to save people in the event of an emergency-both on land and near the shore.
There have been no serious ground forces in Chukotka in recent decades. From the 1980s to the mid-1990s, the 99th Motorized Rifle Division served there. It was equipped with a reduced staff and had a reduced structure: it did not have a set of artillery and air defense equipment, and instead of battalions of combat and logistics support, there were companies. In addition, even the powerful tracked vehicles of motorized infantry most of the year is unable to work in the climatic conditions of Chukotka.
"The first attempts to create a land group in Chukotka were at the beginning of the Cold War," military expert Vasily Kashin told Izvestia. — Then there were plans to deploy the 14th Army, which distinguished itself in the Great Patriotic War, there. Ideas were developed about the transfer of troops across the Bering Strait. As a result, they were abandoned, but the infrastructure began to be built.
Earlier, Izvestia reported that the coastal defense division will also be created in the Kaliningrad Region. It will be based on the regiment formed on the basis of the 79th motorized Rifle Brigade. He will receive some of the old "brigade" battalions and some support units. It is possible that the second regiment, which will be part of the division, will be the 7th separate Guards motorized rifle, located in Kaliningrad.
Return to Chukotka
Over the past five years, Chukotka has once again become the center of military activity in the north-east of the country. The reconstruction of the Ugolny airfield in Anadyr, carried out in the interests of the Ministry of Defense, made it possible to accept all types of aircraft and helicopters. They not only provide border security, but also supply even more remote garrisons.
In the 2000s, Ugolny was only occasionally used as an advanced operational airfield for combat aircraft. But in 2017, for the first time in history, long-range Tu-22M3 bombers landed on it. And from the next year, the most powerful strategic missile carriers, the Tu-160, began to regularly fly there. To perform training tasks, they are relocated there from the European part of the country, performing non-stop flights with a length of about 7 thousand km.
In December last year, the Ministry of Defense announced the beginning of a permanent combat duty in Anadyr of the fleet fighter-interceptor MiG-31BM from the aviation regiment in Kamchatka. For several years, a UAV unit with Orlan-10 and Outpost vehicles has been on duty at Ugolnoye. They allow you to monitor not only the peninsula, but also its coastal waters.
For the fifth year, the combined detachment of the army aviation has also been in Kamchatka. Transport Mi-8 and Mi-26 help supply units at Cape Schmidt and Wrangel Island. In its composition, the latest Arctic modification of the Mi-8AMTSh-VA, created specifically for operation in the most difficult conditions of the Far North, was tested in practice.
In recent years, Russia has been actively strengthening the coastal forces of the fleet. Marine Corps formations are being reformed and transformed into rapid reaction troops capable of operating around the world. Coastal missile and artillery troops are rearming from the outdated "Redoubt" and "Rubezh" complexes to the latest "Bastion" and "Bal". In addition, modern divisions are being created, and coastal missile regiments are being transformed into full-fledged brigades.
