Putin’s military is building troop accommodation, aircraft deployment infrastructure and other facilities at key military bases in Finland, analysts have said.
The military build-up is a chilling echo of pictures taken of Russian bases before Putin launched his war in Ukraine.
The pictures, which were obtained by Swedish broadcaster SVT from Planet Labs, suggest there has been activity at four locations inside Russia -Kamenka, Petrozavodsk, Severomorsk-2, and Olenya.
In Kamenka, which is around 35 miles from the Finnish border and was previously undeveloped, more than 130 military tents capable of housing some 2,000 troops are said to have been set up since February.
Moscow officials hit back at Finland and Sweden’s recent accession to NATO with a vague threat of ‘military-technical response measures’ – which now appear to be well underway.
‘When we applied for NATO membership, Russia said it would take such steps. We are now seeing that happen,’ Sweden’s Chief of Defence Michael Claesson said.
In November 2021, US officials expressed concern over satellite images showing Russian troops massing on the border with Ukraine – a claim the Kremlin dismissed as unfounded. Less than four months later, Putin launched his full-scale war on Ukraine.
Moscow has accused NATO of acting as an aggressor rather than a defensive alliance, and has repeatedly vowed to defend itself by any means, using GPS jamming and other methods.
Finland wants to join NATO
Finland’s accession to NATO on April 4, 2023, which extended the alliance’s border with Russia by over 800 miles, provoked fury in Moscow, with Putin’s cronies warning that the use of nuclear weapons would not be off the table if conflict were to arise.
Seemingly in response to the NATO expansion, Moscow appears to have been preparing itself for war by ordering the rapid development of facilities on its northwestern border.
‘This is a sign of increasing activity,’ Finnish military analyst Emil Kastehelmi, who is following the developments, told SVT.
