Russia's Arctic Strategies and the Future of the Far North by Marlene Laruelle

Author:Marlene Laruelle [Laruelle, Marlene]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, General, Human Rights
ISBN: 9781317460336
Google: PWlsBgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2015-01-28T13:37:12+00:00

Upgrading the Northern Fleet and the Nuclear Deterrence

The most important component of Russia’s defense capability is the Northern Fleet, accounting for about two-thirds of the Russian navy’s global nuclear force. Based at Severomorsk near Murmansk on the northern Kola Peninsula, it remains the most powerful of the four Russian fleets before the Pacific, Black Sea, and Caspian, with the largest number of icebreakers and nuclear submarines. It is in charge of all operations undertaken in the Atlantic and is thus able to venture as far as the Caribbean or to conduct anti-piracy operations close to the Gulf of Aden. However, the Northern Fleet was hit hard by the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 1986, it possessed some 180 nuclear-powered submarines of various classes; however, by 2010 this figure had fallen by three-fourths, to just 42.31 Its recent history has been marked by several failures. Four submarines have sunk, including the infamous Kursk in 2000, and its ballistic missile launches regularly misfire. The navy also faces numerous problems related to its aging fleet (the average vessel has been in service 20 years), the naval nuclear fuel cycle, the disposal of radioactive waste, and contamination issues. The naval nuclear reactors concentrated in the Kola region are dangerous, many of the nuclear submarines waiting to be decommissioned are poorly securitized, and large amounts of nuclear waste remain stored on vessels specifically designed for dumping at sea.32

The modernization efforts to be undertaken are therefore immense and multifaceted. Among the different branches of the armed forces, the navy was most severely affected by the drastically reduced military budgets of the 1990s. It saw its share of the defense budget drop from 23% to 9%. In addition, the modernization objectives mentioned in the two state programs for the armed forces (1996–2005 and 2001–2010) were never achieved. The Maritime Doctrine of the Russian Federation for the Year 2020 ambitiously plans to transform the navy into the second-most powerful in the world, after the U.S. Navy, in 20 to 30 years’ time. In so doing, it puts great emphasis on issues such as the Arctic territorial disputes and undersea resources, and leaves aside the traditional security risks (a military attack from another state).33 The third State Program for the Armed Forces (2007–2015) provided a financial and symbolic reassessment of the navy. For the first time in several decades, it has been placed on an equal footing with the other branches of the armed forces. The Russian government has allocated $132 billion for shipbuilding through 2020; in other words, about one-quarter of the total military budget is allocated to building new ships.34 Although considerable, this amount is largely insufficient to modernize the entire fleet, and Moscow has had to learn how to organize its choices hierarchically. It has given priority to ballistic missile submarines and attack submarines, whereas surface combatants will only get a reduced share of the pie. No carrier, cruiser, or destroyer is currently being built, confirming that Russia does not envisage large-scale conflict with any of the world’s major powers.

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