Russia prepares a reinforcement of its nuclear arsenal stationed on an island near the Arctic. The possibility that the government of Vladimir Putin carry out strategic movement of their nuclear warheads it happened after Finland formally adhere to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (I’LL TAKE).
Russia’s invasion of the Ukraine triggered a historic realignment of European defense. Last Tuesday, Finland abandoned its traditional neutral status by becoming the country number 31 of the military alliance created by the United States during the Cold War. Its continued expansion to the east, meanwhile, was one of the Kremlin’s concerns in its campaign against Ukraine.
The move by the Nordic country, with which Russia shares a 1,200-kilometer border, caused a series of warnings from Moscow, which has not yet formally announced what the “countermeasures” in response to the Helsinki decision. According to some analysts, the presence of NATO on Finnish soil would threaten the security of the peninsula of Kolawhere are the Russian military bases They have the highest concentration of nuclear weapons in the world.
However, the Russian Defense Minister said that the planes of the allied Belarus had been improved for transport Russian nuclear warheads. In addition, the Russian president warned that he plans to place nuclear weapons in the neighboring country located at the door of Europe.
the kola peninsula
The Russian, Finnish and Norwegian border is 104 kilometers south of the Barentes Sea, while to the east lies the Kola Peninsula. It is a strategic military enclave since in the city of Murmansk Russia hosts its northern fleet, which includes nuclear-capable submarines.
With NATO’s advance into Finland, Russia would be left vulnerable on its northwestern flank, according to analysts Heli Hautala, a Finnish diplomat, and Nicholas Lokker of the Center for a New American Security think tank. “The Kola Peninsula is particularly relevant to Russia’s threat perception,” they ruled regarding this region, which is of “central importance” in the perception of Russian national security.
“As Russia tries to deal with the apparent growing threat in Northern Europe while its military remains tied up elsewhere, aggressive nuclear signaling in the region is likely to double down,” they wrote in a posting on the Russian blog. military affairs War On The Rocks.
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“Nuclear weapons will assume greater importance in Russian strategy until the country can reconstitute its forces,” which for now have been diverted to Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine, they said. Meanwhile, they warned that NATO’s advance on Sweden and Finland, such as the deployment of airfields, intelligence facilities or nuclear weapons, “It will only intensify Russia’s aggressive stance.”
In this way, Putin’s government could resume testing its nuclear triad in the Arctic, as well as increase the number of bombers (capable of carrying nuclear weapons to Kola) stationed in the region. It would be a way of reinforcing security now that NATO borders are closer to Russia’s second city, Saint Petersburg. In addition, it would also protect naval exercises in the Baltic Sea.
Finland’s accession to NATO
The Finnish foreign minister formally sealed Helsinki’s membership by depositing the letter of accession before the Finnish flag was hoisted between those of France and Estonia at NATO headquarters in Brussels. “Finland now has the strongest friends and allies in the world“said the head of NATO, the Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg. For his part, the President of the United States, Joe Biden, he vowed to “defend every inch of NATO territory.”
In this way, once the treaty is ratified next year, Finland will fall under the security umbrella of article 5 of the transatlantic organization regarding the collective defense clause that establishes that an attack against a member “shall be considered an attack on everyone“.
Like Sweden (whose process is on standby), Finland had previously acted as a neutral state but made the decision after seeing the consequences of the war in Ukraine. “NATO membership strengthens our international position and our room for manoeuvre,” the president said. Niinisto.
Russia, for its part, described the measure as an “assault on its security” and on national interests given that its border with NATO allies stretched almost 2,500 kilometers. “This forces us to take countermeasures… in tactical and strategic terms“said the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry Peskov.
CD / ED
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