What is Russia up to in its north?
Russia is expanding its bases and forces in the Arctic:
Russia is amassing unprecedented military might in the Arctic and testing its newest weapons in a region freshly ice-free due to the climate emergency, in a bid to secure its northern coast and open up a key shipping route from Asia to Europe.
This has been a long time coming.
But creating military power in the Arctic isn't just shoving troops north with boots and coats. Surviving--let alone fighting--in that harsh environment takes well trained troops with specialty equipment. Just ask the Russian survivors of the Battle of Suomussalmi. Painting your armored vehicles that normally operate on the plains of southern Russia white doesn't make them Arctic-capable vehicles.
So we'll see if this is real or a waste of money and a Potemkin build up.
Honestly, in one sense this just screws the luckless Russians even more. Their Arctic coast was basically their only border that didn't require many defenses. If the waters really do open up, Russia needs to spread their already thin military even more to cover that front.
Sucks to be Russia.
Although this puts some pressure on Canada to up its defense game. Being on the frontline of the Arctic front is way different than being the rear area of the Europe front.
