Christmas celebrations at new Arctic navy base
In Russia’s far northern Navy base of Kotelny, Arctic soldiers gathered in a brand new chapel to celebrate Orthodox Christmas.
The eight-meter high chapel, completed only few days before the celebrations, illustrates Russia’s enhanced presence in the New Siberian Islands, the remote major archipelago located to the northeast of Novaya Zemlya.
As previously reported, the Russian Armed Forces in 2013 started the process of reopening the base, a facility operated in Soviet days but abandoned in the early 1990s. Today, the base is manned by a special Arctic tactical group operating under the Northern Fleet.
Priests from Tiksi will serve in the new chapel on a rotating basis, Mil.ru reports.
The church building was erected with financial support from the Fund of Support for Armed Force Veterans and Disabled, the Diocese of Severomorsk informs on its website.
