Satellite images have revealed how Moscow is bulking up its military presence on the Finnish border – in a chilling echo of pictures taken of Russian bases before Putin launched his war in Ukraine.
Moscow is building troop accommodation, aircraft deployment infrastructure and other facilities at key military bases, analysts have said, in a sign it is seeking to reinforce its capabilities in the border region.
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 2,000 troops are said to have been set up since February.
Kremlin 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.
The images showing remote parts of western appear to show warehouses, which analysts say could be storage halls for armoured vehicles
There was little sign of infrastructure in satellite images of the Kamenka site in 2022
The Russian army appears to have set up a troop camp in Kamenka, which is around 35 miles from the Finnish border
Pictures show what appear to be helicopters at an airfield inside Russia, close to the border with Finland
Analysts say Moscow began building up its military capabilities along its Western border after Sweden’s accession to 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 analysts saying Russia began increasing its capabilities on its western border in response.
‘This is a sign of increasing activity,’ Finnish military analyst Emil Kastehelmi, who is following the developments, told SVT.
In Petrozavodsk, around 100 miles from the Finnish border, three large warehouses have been built which experts suggest are storage halls for armoured vehicles.
The existing halls would be able to fit around 50, with another under construction, according to the latest images from late April.
Further north in Olenya, Russian bombers are stationed which have been carrying out raids on targets in Ukraine, according to Kyiv.
Last month, Finland’s Deputy Chief of Defence Lieutenant General Vesa Virtanen expressed concerns over Russia’s actions on the border, stating that the Kremlin is ‘deliberately testing NATO’s unity’ to see if it will trigger Article 5 – the alliance’s collective defence clause.
Speaking to German newspaper Welt, Virtanen said Russia has been testing Article 5 with hybrid war tactics including cyberattacks and mass cross-border migration, and is now erecting new equipment to station Russian troops along its border.
‘During the war there were about 20,000 soldiers stationed and about four standby brigades, now we see that Russia is building new infrastructure and as soon as they can, more troops in this region,’ Virtanen warned.
The army chief explained that they are reorganising themselves from the brigades and there would likely be around four to five divisions, an army corps, and a supporting unit.
Satellite images from November 2021 appear to show a build-up of tanks, armoured units and self-propelled artillery as well as ground troops, near the Russian town of Yelnya, which is close to the border of Ukraine
Satellite images from 2021 appear to show the presence of a large ground forces deployment on the northern edge of the town of Yelnya, in Russia, near the Ukrainian border
‘So there will be more troops there in the future than before the Ukraine war,’ he added, while reassuring that Finland has been ready to defend its allies for decades.
In response to Finland’s NATO membership, Putin announced the establishment of the ‘Leningrad Military District’ near the Finnish border and the deployment of additional military units to the area.
But the Russian dictator has repeatedly dismissed concerns over a potential attack on NATO members as ‘complete nonsense’, asserting that Russia has no interest in engaging in conflict with the alliance.
When Washington highlighted a military build-up across Ukraine’s border in 2021, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphatically dismissed the reports, saying there was no need to ‘waste time’ on ‘low-quality’ claims.
‘The movement of our military equipment and army units… is exclusively our business,’ he told reporters. ‘Russia has never threatened anyone.’
