Russia will deploy military units on Iturup and Kunashir, part of the Kuril Islands, Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov said on Saturday.

“We will most likely base in two military towns on two islands – Iturup and Kunashir,” Serdyukov told journalists in Vladivostok, Russia’s Far East.

The defense minister said his trip to the Far East is aimed at analyzing how the machine gun-artillery division will be “integrated” with the Russian forces located in Vladivostok, Sakhalin and Kamchatka.

“The grouping will be changed by its structure. It is highly likely that staff will be slightly cut but it will be reinforced by the newest communications systems, electronic warfare and radar stations,” Serdyukov said.

Earlier this month, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow will increase its military presence on the South Kuril Islands to “ensure the security of the islands as an unalienable part of Russia.”

A General Staff official said that S-400 missile defense systems could possibly be deployed to the islands to protect them from possible attacks.