Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has said that a division of troops would be stationed in Chukotka, Russia’s far-east region, near the U.S. border at Alaska.
He said that the deployment was “to ensure control of the closed sea zones of the Kuril Islands and the Bering Strait, cover the routes of Pacific Fleet forces’ deployment in the Far Eastern and Northern sea zones, and increase the combat viability of naval strategic nuclear forces.”
The Bering Strait is the narrow waterway that separates Alaska from Russia.
In the past, Russia has bemoaned NATO and US troop deployments near to its borders. How the US will respond to this deployment remains to be seen.