Russia has announced plans to position a new coastal defense military division along its eastern coast, with some troops expected to be stationed approximately 50 miles from Alaska.
The new division, expected to be in place by 2018, will be responsible for defending Russia’s sparsely populated Far East, stretching from the Alaskan border to the Kuril Islands, which are disputed with Japan.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu indicated the new division will be expected to “ensure control of the closed sea zones of the Kuril Islands and the Bering Strait, cover the routes of Pacific Fleet forces’ deployment in the Far Eastern and Northern sea zones, and increase the combat viability of naval strategic nuclear forces.”
“It’s obvious that this is not just ordinary news, not least because what we’re talking about is the creation of a serious military force just a stone’s throw away from the United States: only the Bering Strait will separate the Russian coastal defense division from Alaska,” Sergei Ishchenko, a defense analyst for Svobodnaya Pressa, said. “At its narrowest point, that’s only 86 km away.” – READ MORE
