The Russian Northern Fleet has been very active lately, in addition to the usual landing drills close to its home ports in the Kola peninsula, the fleet has been roaming the Russian northern coast with a landing squadron carrying a mix of marines and Arctic brigade specialists from the Alakurtti military base, Petri Makela wrote for Vantage Point North.
“This unit has now made a landing drill at the remote island of Kotelny that sits between the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian Sea,” the author stated. “The squadron’s last supply point, where the crews and troops were allowed to rest and refit was in Dudinka. The distance from Dudinka to Kotelny is roughly 2,000 km. This distance corresponds closely to the distance between the fleets home base in Kola and Iceland. The geography and the size of the islands are also very similar.”
Read alsoFinnish military reject request for Russian training ship visit to Aland
Iceland is one of the few nations in the world without an army. Iceland only has an approximately 200 men strong coast guard and a 230 men strong force for peacekeeping purposes. Due to the extremely strategic location of the island nation, the United States has been guaranteeing its freedom. Besides, Iceland is a NATO member. Other NATO members and even some neutral countries like Finland have lent aircraft and personnel to help police the Icelandic airspace.
However, “without an effective navy Iceland is not equipped to stop a Russian landing force and without an army it has no chance to repel an amphibious landing by the Russian marines,” the author claims.
Read alsoSweden hosts huge war games exercise with NATO - Euronews
Read alsoPutin's missiles in occupied Crimea able to hit targets across EU (Infographics)