The Russian Navy will create a special group of icebreakers for the protection of islands along the country’s Arctic coast, the Russian Izvestia newspaper reports.
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The new fleet of military icebreakers will also likely include ice-class ships capable of carrying artillery and missile weaponry, the newspaper said on Friday.
Last month, Rear Adm. Igor Zvarich, the Russian Navy’s technical department chief, said that a new generation of Russia’s diesel-electric icebreakers, the Ilya Muromets-class, could go into mass production.
…
In 2013, Moscow announced a strategy to increase its presence in the Arctic and to boost the region’s development by 2020. In 2015, Russian President Vladimir Putin approved a revised maritime doctrine prioritizing the protection of national interests in the Arctic.
Full article: Russian Navy to Create Special Icebreaker Fleet to Protect Interests in Arctic (Sputnik News)
Global Geopolitics 