The Introduction, Adoption and Implementation of Russia's “Northern Strategic Bastion” Concept, 1992–1999

Abstract

Up to the late 1980s, the European Arctic was among the most heavily militarized regions in the world. After the end of the Cold War, however, the Russian Northern Fleet, based on the remote Kola Peninsula, went into a state of crisis and decay. Investments dried up and there was little political will to modernize the country's sea-based nuclear deterrence forces. But centrally placed actors in the Defense Ministry, the General Staff and the Military-Industrial Complex wanted to revitalize the once powerful and feared nuclear fleet. First Deputy Defense Minister (1992–1997) Andrei Kokoshin wrote a secret concept on how to create a new “Strategic Bastion” in the North. This article discusses the concept's background, content, and consequences.