S-300PS air-defence missile batteries have become operational at Russia's newest military base in Tiksi, on the coast of the Laptev Sea, the country's Ministry of Defence (MoD) said on 3 April. The base comprises an 11-unit complex that accommodates 100 personnel. The role of the unit, which forms the Northern Fleet's 3rd Air Defence Division, is to defend the airspace of the Russian Arctic and the area of Moscow's unilaterally claimed Northern Sea Route. The S-300PS system is designed to protect large military and industrial sites against long-range cruise and ballistic missile attacks. Its early warning and tracking component is sited at the newly built base on Kotelny Island, between the Laptev and East Siberian seas. Additional air-defence sites are planned to deploy shortly on Russia's Arctic coast and the Far North, including Wrangle Island, Cape Schmidt, and Severnaya Zemlya.
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