Russia is expanding its military infrastructure near the borders with Finland and Estonia - ISW
Kyiv • UNN
Russia is building military bases and infrastructure near the borders of Finland and Estonia. Analysts predict that it will take Russia five years to build up its forces to a threatening level.
Russia continues to expand its military infrastructure along the border with Finland and Estonia, likely preparing for future aggression against NATO. This is stated in the material of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), reports UNN.
Details
Analysts point out that recent satellite images, confirmed by NATO officials, show that Russians are building bases and military infrastructure near the Finnish and Estonian borders - in particular, building and repairing tents, warehouses for storing vehicles, shelters for fighter jets and helicopter bases at the Olenya and Alakurt airbases in the Murmansk region, the Kamenka airbase in the Republic of Komi, and the Petrozavodsk airbase in the Republic of Karelia.
A senior NATO official said that Russia is likely to redeploy troops further north when the war in Ukraine ends, and that Russia believes its access to the Arctic is key to its status as a major power
They emphasize that representatives of the defense sector of Finland predict that it will take Russia approximately five years to build up its forces to a threatening level after the end of the war in Ukraine, possibly tripling the number of Russian forces on the border with Finland.
In April 2025 ... Western military and intelligence officials said that Russia is expanding military bases near Petrozavodsk and upgrading railway lines and other infrastructure along Russia's western border with NATO
Analysts add that Putin's aide and former Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev recently used narratives similar to those the Kremlin used to justify its invasion of Ukraine to threaten Finland.
Recall
According to BILD, the end of the war in Ukraine may become a new stage of threats from Russia. Thus, about 800,000 Russian soldiers, in the event of a truce, may be redeployed to Belarus and the borders of Finland, Norway and the Baltic countries.
According to an unnamed Western official, Russia sees weakness as an opportunity for new conquests. After Georgia, there was Crimea, then Donbas, then Ukraine, and "if we make it clear to Putin that he can keep the annexed territories, he will choose the next, bigger target."