Pressure rises along the borders of Finland, Estonia and Norway.
In early March 2025, Vladimir Putin announced the deployment of Russian troops and arms systems at the Finnish border. In reality, this would only be the tip of the iceberg, according to the Wall Street Journalwho consulted satellite images of Planet Labs.
It turns out asSmall military installations have emerged not only near Finland, but also Estonia and Norway.
new generation weapons and new stored tanks
Western military officials and intelligence services thus note to the American daily newspaper that Russia has enlarged its basis for Petrozavodskin Carélie (a region close to Finland), with new barracks and training centers. The site could thus become a new Russian army headquarters. Units have also been placed in Kamenka, 75 km from the Finnish border, and Sputnik, 15 km from the Norwegian border, where housing and military equipment storage centers were created.
Satellite images also show that The railway network is being developed Towards the army centers, whether in the direction of Finland, Norway or Estonia. These sites could thus be easily supplied with armaments, and welcome many soldiers, especially if the war in Ukraine ends and Moscow decides to redeploy its soldiers near the NATO borders. Small brigades could thus triple size and bring together divisions of 10,000 men.
A senior Finnish military official finally notes that Moscow does not send “Almost no” of his new tanks in Ukraine. On the contrary, they are stored for a “Subsequent use”. In the same way, new generation weapons could be sent near the border with NATO, while older those would be dedicated to the fight against Ukraine.
Narva
For the ISW (Institute for the Study of War, Institute for the Study of War), the development of military districts in the region “Fits in A long -term restructuring aimed at preparing for a possible large -scale conventional war against NATO “. This is exactly what a pro-governmental Russian expert explains to the Wall Street Journal.
An anonymous European official is more moderate, believing that Russia might want to test NATO cohesion by attacking a limited area. In this sense, the Narva region, a mainly Russian -speaking Estonian city, could represent a target of choice. Vladimir Putin could repeat the Ukrainian scenario, namely to declare that the local population would be persecuted by the authorities, and thus invade this area. This would allow him to see if NATO reacts firmly or not, which could give it clues to military maneuvers that Russia could afford in the future.
