"The Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation, General of the Army Sergei Shoigu, inspected the remote Arctic garrisons of the Northern Fleet. The head of the Russian military department checked the organization of official activities and the fulfillment of tasks for the purpose of special units and units deployed on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, including readiness for actions to protect and defend critical facilities," the ministry said on Saturday.
The ministry added that Shoigu has also inspected social infrastructure, such as a school and a kindergarten, on Novaya Zemlya and has flown over the Central Test Site of Russia on Novaya Zemlya together with Alexey Likhachev, the head of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom.
"The Central Test Site of the Russian Federation was established on September 17, 1954. In the period from 1954 to 1990, 132 tests of atmospheric, underground, underwater, surface, and ground-based nuclear weapon explosions were carried out on it. Their total power was 94% of the power of all nuclear explosions produced in the USSR," the ministry said, specifying that, currently, "the main tasks of the Central Test Site of the Russian Federation are the preparation and testing of promising models of weapons and military equipment."
Amid the visit, a detachment of ships of the Northern Fleet went to sea to perform their duty in the Arctic zone
According to a statement, during a combat training class, a combined air group of MiG-31 fighter-interceptors counducted drills, finessing their mastery in air defense, air reconnaissance and cover for troops and forces operating in the Arctic zone.