VLADIVOSTOK, Russia, March 5 (Xinhua) -- A Russian Navy unit is guarding the military airfield on Matua, a volcanic island in the Kuril Islands chain, Admiral Sergei Avakyants, commander of the Pacific Fleet, said.

"There is a military airfield on Matua, which is capable of receiving light military transport aircraft and helicopters. Infrastructure has been created for the functioning of the airfield, which is guarded and serviced by the unit of the Pacific Fleet," Avakyants told Russia's Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper in an interview published Monday.

He also said attention was being given to replenishing the combat crew in the region and commissioning new support vessels and coastal equipment.

Two modern hostels for servicemen were handed over to the military unit recently, he said.

The Russian military and the Russian Geographical Society conducted a joint expedition to Matua Island in May 2016 to study the possibility of basing Pacific Fleet forces there.

Matua is located near the center of the Kuril Islands chain.