GETTY President Vladimir Putin's popularity has gone through the roof since he started bombing ISIS

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Moscow also revealed blueprints for a new army base on the disputed Kurile islands - some of which are situated less than 20 miles from Japan. Mr Putin is already flexing his military muscles in Syria with air and sea bases and a bombing campaign that has decimated ISIS strongholds.

Russian expansionism has also seen the Crimean peninsula invaded and annexed. But, in a significant ramping up of Russia's military reach, Mr Putin hopes to taunt US and Japanese officials with outposts in the Arctic and Pacific.

GETTY Russian tanks operating in the Arctic

EXPRESS Map showing the new bases

The plans mean Moscow will have troops, warplanes and military vehicles stationed in all four corners of the Asian continent.

This is a really large base that was never seen during the Soviet times, and it has modern equipment, all of the needed equipment for these boundaries Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu

It will be seen by both Washington and Beijing as a direct challenge to military supremacy in the region. In the Pacific, a new Russian base on the Kurile islands is likely to worsen already frayed relations with Tokyo which lays claim to the Southern Kuriles, known in Japan as the Northern Territories. Russia seized the islands from Japan at the end of World War Two and the dispute is so acrimonious that Moscow and Tokyo have still not signed a formal peace treaty after the war.

In the Arctic, Russia is building or plans to build a series of new military bases on Wrangel Island, Kotelny Island and at Cape Schmidt, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu confirmed. He said Russia planned to "completely finish the creation and arming of the entire Arctic grouping" by 2018.

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Mr Shoigu added: "We're not hiding this from anyone, we have practically finished creating the base in the Novosibirsk Archipelago, on the island of Kotelny. "This is a really large base that was never seen during the Soviet times, and it has modern equipment, all of the needed equipment for these boundaries."

GETTY Russia plans to finish the bases by 2018

Mr Putin has promised not to militarise the Arctic, but officials have made it clear that Russia will take steps to ensure it remains well defended in the region. Cape Schmidt, or Mys Shmidta as the nearest town is known in Russian, boasts a population of just a few hundred. But crucially, it is just 320 miles from Point Hope in Alaska.

Moscow hopes placing a military base so close to American shores would give Russia the edge in any conflict with the US. Wrangel Island, another proposed military base, is a Unesco World Heritage Site and hosts a nature reserve. It is also thought to have been the last place on earth where mammoths survived.

GETTY Mr Putin has promised not to militarise the Arctic

Russia has conducted a number of military drills in the Arctic this year, and Moscow plans to create a network of naval facilities in the region for submarines and warships as part of the country's military strategy through 2020. Russia already operates military bases across eastern Europe and central Asia, including in Georgia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vietnam.

Moscow also uses a naval base in Syria and an air base in Latakia, where 600 Russian marines provide security. It comes as Mr Putin's approval rating in Russia has shot up to almost 90 per cent, boosted by the decisive bombing campaign of ISIS and anti-Syrian government rebels.

Russia's air force says it has flown over 700 sorties against more than 690 targets in Syria since September 30, a campaign to which state TV has given blanket coverage. Before the strikes, polls showed Russians were wary about the risks of Kremlin involvement in the Middle East.

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