Russian National Guard’s Northern Divers Unit Works Round the Clock Underwater in the Arctic
To practice drills involving terrorists operating underwater, the Murmansk Region has hosted a drill of the Rosgvardiya (Russian National Guard) divers. They worked at the depth of 100 meters, searching for potential explosives and infiltrators. Did they manage to accomplish their task? Igor Ageyenko has the details.
This ship seems to have accidentally trespassed the prohibited area of a strategic object. But the intelligence data shows that two divers holding a mine are under the ice-breaker. The soldiers of the Rosgvardiya train seizing the potential terrorists in the waters belonging to Rosatomflot every week because it's not only important but also high-risk site.
Pavel Harchenko, Rosgvardiya: "Some sites are to be guarded all the time. Our personnel must always be ready to fulfill a task no matter if there is a threat or not".
The specialists don't only inspect the trespassers, they also check the hull of the ship. The Rosgvardiya divers operate at a depth of 10 to 100 meters. In practice, the majority of trespassers are fishing boats that enter the waters of Rosatomflot.
Artem Kotov, deputy division officer: "We don't know whether those ships carry any forbidden items, explosives or other prohibited articles which can be attached to the bottom of the ship. They can also be smuggling in infiltrators. That's the reason we check all the ships".
Ice-breakers get checked as well. Every centimeter of the hull is carefully examined. The divers can operate underwater for a long time thanks to special equipment which is several times better than a conventional wetsuit.
Mikhail Zharov, technical instructor: "It's more resistant to physical damage which allows us to safely climb the vessels. The bed here is heavily littered. Sometimes while inspecting an icebreaker, you can tear the suit on some sharp parts. That's the difference."
This year, the Rosgvardiya marine units arrested 12 trespassers and 5 vessels in the north-west of Russia. The divers inspected almost 3,000 square meters of the bed and more than a thousand objects. In total, they spent 1,500 hours underwater. The marine unit has been working in the polar region for almost 30 years.
Their objective is to guard ]objects of strategic importance, including the infrastructure and the icebreakers of Rosatomflot. The most northern unit of the Rosgvardiya guards the waters in all weather conditions and at any time of day or night.
Igor Ageyenko, Dmitry Vannikov, and Pavel Kovliga for Vesti from Murmansk