The base will be important for the deployment of Russian nuclear ballistic missile submarines as the aircraft deployed there will monitor US submarines in the area. Thus, it will provide additional protection for the submarine base in Vilyuchinsk. Antisubmarine helicopters will control the passage to the Sea of Okhotsk and will minimize the capability of NATO submarines to sail into it.



Former Northern fleet Commander Admiral Vyacheslav Popov agreed that Russia needs a naval base on Kurile Islands. The ridge closes the Sea of Japan and the warships from the mainland base have to sail through straits between Russian islands and Hokkaido. "A base there means direct access to the Pacific Ocean. It is one thing when warships can enter the ocean through a bottleneck of straits. It means they are locked in the base. And it is another thing when there is direct access to the ocean. It considerably increases defense capability," he said.



Unfortunately, the major infrastructure created on Matua Island by the Japanese in the last century, including the underground facility, a big airfield and a network of roads and a railway branch is no longer fit for use and cannot be restored. Up to 2001 there was a border post on the island but it became uninhabited after that.

At present the 18th machine-gun-artillery division, a unique formation in the Russian army, is deployed on the Kuriles with reinforcement units on Iturup and Kunashir. Coastal complexes Bal (Kunashir) and Bastion (Iturup) have been recently deployed on the islands. But they are insufficient to ensure anti-landing defense of all the islands. Naval and air components are necessary. But it is a sophisticated combat complex which includes early warning radars and all targeting means.

