Kotelny Island, Russia (CNN) Six time zones east of Moscow, on the frozen landscape of the New Siberian Islands, a new military race is taking shape.

The Northern Clover military base on Kotelny Island is one of Russia's newest military outposts, in one of the most forbidding environments on the planet. The trefoil-shaped complex -- painted in the scheme of the Russian tricolor -- is built to house up to 250 servicemen, and has enough supplies for them to survive and operate for over a year, with no help from the outside world.

Situated in a vast landscape of blinding white above the Arctic Circle, the Kotelny base is closer to Alaska than to Moscow. It is one of three new Russian bases above the 75th parallel, part of a larger push by Russian President Vladimir Putin to flex his country's military muscle across its massive Arctic coastline. The Russian military says it has built 475 military sites in the past six years , spanning from the country's western frontier with NATO borders to the Bering Strait in the east.

Russia's Northern Fleet moved into the base in 2016. There, military personnel don't have to face the harsh Arctic weather unless on duty. The "closed cycle" base has its residential and operations blocks interconnected, and the only standalone building there is a tiny Orthodox chapel some 20 meters from the heart of the base.

"Our base performs radar control, monitors the airspace, secures the Northern Sea Route and eliminates damage to the environment," said Major Vladimir Pasechnik, commander of the Northern Clover tactical group on Kotelny Island.

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