Russia is actively building new military infrastructure along its borders with the Nordic and Baltic countries and plans to station up to 115,000 troops there, according to a joint investigation by the Swedish and Norwegian broadcasters SVT and NRK.
Satellite imagery has revealed new barracks, ammunition depots and a concentration of military equipment in several locations – in the Pechenga district, ten kilometres from the Norwegian border, in Petrozavodsk and Sapjorn on the border with Finland, in Luga near Pskov, and in the Königsberg area.
According to estimates, the number of Russian troops on the Finnish border could rise from the current 20,000 to 80,000, whilst on the Norwegian border it could rise from 7,000 to 17,000.
Analysts believe that Moscow plans to staff these facilities once the intense phase of the war Russia has launched against Ukraine has subsided.
“While Russia is preoccupied with Ukraine, the immediate military threat is minimal,” said Major General Brian Nissen, NATO’s commander of forces in the Baltic states and Poland.
