Russia builds military bases for 115,000 soldiers near borders with Norway, Finland, and Baltic states
Russia continues a large-scale expansion of military infrastructure near the borders of Norway, Finland, and the Baltic states. According to an investigation by Scandinavian and Estonian journalists, a number of military facilities are seeing new barracks for personnel, headquarters buildings, hangars for equipment, repair zones, and warehouses for weapons and ammunition, writes The Moscow Times.
Analysts studied satellite images of 19 Russian military facilities in the region. Signs of active construction or expansion were observed at 16 of them over the past year. Particular attention is being paid to areas near the borders with Norway and Finland, as well as the Kaliningrad region.
According to estimates by Swedish military intelligence Must, Russia is creating infrastructure that, after the war in Ukraine ends, could be quickly filled with military personnel. It is believed that the number of Russian forces in this direction could increase from the current approximately 20,000 to 80-115 thousand people.
Marko Eklund, former deputy military attaché of Finland in Moscow, notes that in Pechenga, Murmansk region, near the Norwegian border alone, the number of military personnel could increase from approximately 7,000 to 17,000 people.
According to expert estimates, one of the possible sources for manning new units could be military personnel currently involved in combat operations in Ukraine, who, after their completion, could remain in service and be transferred to new garrisons.
NATO command in the Baltic region notes that while Russia is focused on the war in Ukraine, the large-scale threat to alliance countries remains limited. However, after the cessation of hostilities, according to their estimates, the situation could change quite rapidly, which is why the countries of the region continue to monitor the development of military infrastructure on the Russian side of the border.
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