Russia Plots Takeover Of North Pole, Nuclear Military Buildup Underway In Arctic For ‘Cold War’

With Russia jacking up tensions with the West over its continuing conflict against Ukraine and repeated provocations by Russian jets and spy planes in and around NATO airspace, and causing panic over the prospect of World War 3 on a weekly basis, it appears that Russian president Vladimir Putin still is not satisfied.

Now Putin is coming for Santa Claus.

Russia To Claim 463,000 Square Miles Of New Arctic Land

The Russian president has been plotting to seize oil-rich territory in the Arctic — territory now in the possession of Canada — for years, and Russian officials now say that early in 2015, they plan to file an official claim with the United Nations to take over about 463,000 square miles of Arctic territory.

And if anyone doesn’t like it, Russian is already building military bases in the Arctic to make crystal clear that Putin means business at the top of the world. Russia is in the process right now of refurbishing a number of former Soviet bases in the Arctic, locations that had been lying dormant since the fall of the Soviet Union more than 20 years ago, but which Russia is now working feverishly to bring back into action.

“We are planning to build 13 airfields, an air-ground firing range, as well as 10 radar and vectoring posts,” said Russian National Defense Management Center Commander Lt. Gen. Mikhail Mizintsev, in the Russian media.

Russian Nuclear Bombers Already Flying Out Of Arctic Bases

Russia has already stationed nuclear-armed Tupolev Tu-95 Bear bomber planes, aircraft which can deliver strategic nuclear weapons, in the Arctic, and according to one Russian general, the nuke-bearing bombers are flying three times as many missions this year than previously.

By 2017, Russia says it will station squadrons of MiG-31 Foxhound long-range fighter jets on the renovated Soviet bases. The state-of-the-art fighter can fly faster than 2,000 miles per hour.

Putin also said earlier this year that Russia is building a network of Naval bases in the North — and a new fleet of nuclear attack submarines, as well as surface ships, that will sail from the new Arctic Russian ports.

Vladimir Putin Calls Arctic Region Russia’s “Special Interest”

The Kremlin has said that the new military bulwark to the north will protect against “unwanted guests,” and Putin has told his own security council that he considers the Arctic — including the North Pole itself — “a sphere of our special interest.”

But not everyone agrees with the Russian strongman. Canada also claims parts of the territory that Russia wants to take over, as does Denmark. Five countries, under international agreements, have economic claims to the Arctic, with the United States and Norway as well as Canada, Denmark, and Russia sharing the claims.