Moscow is preparing to confront NATO. “WSJ”: Putin is expanding the bases

Putin expands the bases and is preparing to move a significant number of soldiers near border regions away from Ukraine – wrote on Monday “Wall Street Journal”, reminding that according to many observers this is part of the Kremlin's preparations for the potential conflict with NATO.

The journal informs that military bases in Pietrozawodsk are expanded about 160 km east of the border with Finland. The Kremlin expands military recruitment, strengthens weapon production and modernizes railway lines in border areas.

“WSJ” reminds that Russian military experts define activities along the Finnish border as part of the Kremlin's preparation for a potential conflict with NATO. “When the army returns (from Ukraine), they will look across the border at the country they consider to be an opponent,” told the director of the Strategy and Technology Analysis Center, Moscow's defense tank Ruslan Puchow. “The logic of the last decade shows that we are expecting a certain conflict with NATO,” he noted.

Vladimir Putin issued an order to enlarge the army to 1.5 million soldiers, while before the invasion of Ukraine, its number was about a million. Moscow also increases military expenses with 3.6 percent. GDP before the attack on Ukraine up to 6 percent Currently.

The daily points out that, according to the respect of interviews, the Kremlin, which produced 40 T -90M tanks before the attack, currently produces 300. However, they do not go to the front – they stay in Russia for later use. “The Russian army is reconstructed and growing at a faster pace than most analysts predicted,” said American general Christopher Cavoli, US forces commander in Europe. “The Russian army is greater today than at the beginning of the war,” he added.

Last year, the Kremlin changed the way of organizing forces within the country, creating new districts associated with the defense of the largest cities: Moscow and St. Petersburg. In the Moscow military district, Russia integrates road and railway routes with trails in neighboring Belarus.

Most of the army's expansion will take place in the Leningrad Military District, which borders on Estonia, Latvia and Finland.

The new infrastructure includes warehouse units and accommodation for soldiers, told American newspaper Emil Kastehelmi from the Finnish Black Bird Group, which analyzes satellite photos of Russian military facilities. The new railway line is laid along the borders with Finland and Norway, and south of St. Petersburg to the border with Estonia. The existing lines crossing the region are expanded.

“WSJ” emphasized that the authorities increased the benefits for veterans and encourage soldiers to sit on the city councils and the Russian parliament. “We see that the army is becoming a new type of elite,” said Daivis Petraitis, Russian expert at the Baltic Defense College in Estonia.

Russia adapts its plans to call to the needs of new troops to be stationed along the NATO border. These units will receive most of the new equipment, on the Kremlin front line, he sends the old and renovated weapon from Soviet times – said the daily.

Officers on the Eastern Flanka NATO expect a “performance” aimed at scaring Europe from increasing tensions with Russia. “If we look at the Russian military history from Piotr the Great to this day, I understand why they think they deserve a place at the table,” said “WSJ” Major Juha Kukkola, a professor at the University of National Defense in Helsinki. – They were in Paris after defeating Napoleon, they were in Berlin after defeating the Nazis. Military power to achieve this. ” (PAP)

OS/ KARE/