Once a desolate home mostly to polar bears, Russia’s northernmost military outpost is bristling with missiles and radar.

The base at Nagurskoye, in the Franz Josef Land Archipelago east of Norway, projects Moscow’s power and influence across the Arctic amid intensifying international competition for the region’s vast resources.

The shamrock-shaped facility of three large pods extending from a central atrium is painted in the white-red-and-blue of Russia's national flag.

It sits on an otherwise stark vantage point on the 3,470-mile Northern Sea Route on Russia’s Arctic coast.

Russia has sought to assert its influence in competition with the United States, Canada, Denmark and Norway as shrinking polar ice offers new opportunities for resources and shipping.