sic: Most media coverage has been trained on Russia's involvement in Syria, but Moscow is quietly beating America in a turf war on top of the Earth: the Arctic Circle.
Right now, Russia stands as the foremost military and exploration leader in the region. It has 40 icebreakers-huge ships designed to push through ice-covered waters to safe passage ways for other vessels-in service with 11 currently in production. By comparison, America only has one, the Polar Star, that is operational. The other one it does have is broken. Russia also has six military bases, 16 deepwater ports and 13 airbases. Protecting these bases are S-400 long-range surface to air missiles. By comparison, the U.S. has no major military bases north of the Arctic Circle.
And in June, Russia launched its new nuclear-powered Arktika, the world's biggest and most powerful icebreaker. At 567 feet long and 33,500 tones, the Arktika can smash through ice three meters thick. The ship will escort oil and gas boats from Yamal Peninsula and Gdansk oil fields to markets in the Asia-Pacific region. Also, they aren't cheap. The Arktika reportedly cost $1.74 billion dollars.
It is no surprise that Russia is in control of the region, given that its has an enormous amount of territory there. Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Sweden, and Norway are the other countries that have legal claim to Arctic territories. They have rights to resources in and below the ocean within 200 miles of their territories. However, Russia reigns supreme.
For one, Moscow has simply invested more financial resources in the region than any other nation and have been doing it longer. Russia was the first country to drill for oil in the Arctic in 1915. The Yermak, which was the first icebreaker in the world, was commissioned in 1898. Icebreakers were essential for the Russians for business purposes, as they needed to clear pathways on its northern shores to get to ports in St. Petersburg, Riga, Vladivostok and Arkhangelsk.
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