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Chilling video footage shows the launch of Oniks - or Onyx - supersonic anti-ship cruise missiles from Kotelny island off the north coast of Siberia. The military exercise involved an attack on supposed enemy ships in the pristine Arctic. Russian defence ministry TV channel Zvezda said today that the plan had been successfully implemented. RIA Novosti also reported the exercise had gone according to plan, citing military sources.

One Bastion complex can be equipped with up to 36 Oniks cruise missiles protecting 375 miles of sea shore. The exercise was staged on Kotelny, part of the Novosibirsk chain of islands between the Laptev Sea and the East Siberian seas. Ahead of the test firing of the P-800 Oliks, Russian northern fleet spokesman Captain Vadim Serga said: "Missiles will be fired on a remote target imitating a group of surface ships of the simulated enemy.” Thye Bastion deployment was made recently to the far-flung island as part of Putin’s drive to modernise Russian defences in the Arctic.

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This coincides with Moscow making new claims on vast mineral riches under the Arctic ice. Until now the the Rubezh missile complex was the main weapon of coastal units of the Northern Fleet stationed on the island, said Serga. Earlier this month Russia staged the biggest war games since Cold War times in the Far East of the country. The Russian defence ministry regular posts footage of its latest missile tests. Putin critics accuse him of an increased militarisation in Russia.

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