MOSCOW, October 1. /TASS/. Russian Defense Ministry has completed the delivery of required material resources, including military hardware for army groupings in the Arctic region, garrisons in the Far North, Siberia and the Far East, Deputy Defence Minister Dmitry Bulgakov told reporters on Wednesday.

“Under the defense minister’s order, the ministry by October 1 has completed the deliveries of the necessary material supplies, including equipment and armament for the force grouping now forming in the Arctic,” the source said.

More than 123 thousand tonnes of material supplies were delivered during northern logistic delivery campaign in garrisons and military units located in the Far North, Siberia and the Far East, he said. “Around 190 facilities, including lighthouses, islands, military units and garrisons, where more than 20 thousand servicemen and members of their families live as well as civil personnel who perform different tasks at Defence Ministry’s facilities are provided with necessary food supplies, clothes, medical equipment, highly inflammable, solid and liquid fuel,” Bulgakov noted.

Supplying enterprises have made more than 60% of material supplies to Arctic army groupings, vessels of shipping organisations - around 30% of supply and support vessels, military transport airplanes, vehicles and trains have delivered around ten percent of logistic supplies during the navigation season in 2014, the deputy defence minister said.

“In the near future, the delivery of new armament, modern military and special full track and wheeled equipment is to be completed for these groupings,” he said, adding that the vehicles are capable of operating in freezing temperatures.

The formation of the Arctic military command is part of Russia’s ongoing extensive program to build up military presence in the Arctic. Last March, President Vladimir Putin said that the armed forces’ training and development efforts should incorporate measures to increase the combat component of the Arctic group. The Defense Ministry has since made several steps along these lines.

Russian Northern Fleet to be main striking force of Arctic Military Command

The Russian Northern Fleet will be detached from the Western Military District by December 1 to become the main striking force of the mooted Unified Strategic Command (USC) Sever (North), which is under formation in Russia with the aim of protecting the country’s interests in the Arctic, a source in Russia's Defense Ministry earlier told ITAR-TASS.

Russia announced it was recreating its military base on the Novosibirsk Islands in the Laptev Sea. An airfield was opened on Kotelny, the largest island of the archipelago. Another military airport, Rogachyovo, commissioned on the southern island of the Novaya Zemlya Archipelago, is capable of accommodating fighter jets.

The construction of the Tiksi airdrome in Yakutia’s northernmost locality, inside the Arctic circle, will be completed in 2015. Three airdromes - in the Alykel community (the Krasnoyarsk Territory), in Vorkuta (the Komi Republic), and in Anadyr, the administrative center of Chukotka, will be expanded.

Military drills in the Arctic

The Russian Armed Forces have stepped up military exercises in the Arctic. Last April, airborne troops were parachuted to the drifting base Barneo, in the Arctic. Belarussian troops are scheduled to join Russian paratroopers for a similar airdrop operation in 2015. However, there are no immediate plans for a permanent presence of Russian airborne troops in the Arctic.

In late September, a tactical group of Russia's Northern Fleet together with the crew of the Admiral Levchenko destroyer conducted firing drills in the area of the Novosibirsk Islands in the Arctic Ocean. 

On August 4-8, the area of the Franz Josef Land was a scene of exercises for pilots of the Central Military District, involving strategic bombers Tupolev-95, long-range interceptors MiG-31 and frontline bombers Sukhoi-24.

Kommersant daily reported in August citing a source in the General Staff that the first two military garrisons would be deployed on the Wrangel Island and the Chukotka Peninsula’s Cape Schmidt. A total of six such garrisons are to crop up in the region, one of them in the Amderma community, the Nenets Autonomous District - a strategic point for keeping under control the entire western section of the Northern Sea Route.