The energy-rich Arctic and the Atlantic oceans are center points of a revised Russian naval doctrine. Russia's 46-page document calls for the development of a "Northern Fleet" for the vast region around the North Pole where oil and gas reserves lie under sea ice that has shrunk periodically in recent decades.
Seven other Arctic periphery nations include the NATO nations Canada, the USA and Denmark which incorporates semi-autonomous Greenland.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Russia, which has more than 7,000 kilometers of Arctic coastline, planned the construction of atomic-powered icebreaking naval vessels. The first would begin service in 2017.
The doctrine again characterizes NATO as a threat by describing its inclusion of eastern European nations in post-Cold War decades as "inadmissible" expansion.
Russia's revised naval doctrine proposes "developing infrastructures" for its Black Sea fleet in Crimea and also calls for "accelerated reconstitution" of strategic Russian positions in the Black Sea.
-tk-