Russia is building or plans to build a series of new Arctic military bases, including on Wrangel Island, Kotelny Island and at Cape Schmidt, Reuters quoted Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu as saying on Thursday . "We are not keeping this a secret - we have practically created a base on the Novosibirsk Islands, the Island of Kotelny. This is a big military base, there was no such in the Soviet period," the Interfax news agency also cited Shoigu as saying.
