Russia is constructing a new military garrison in the northwestern town of Kandalaksha, near the Finnish border, satellite imagery has shown.
According to military experts, the move indicates Moscow aims to strengthen its military presence along the Finnish border, intensifying pressure on NATO’s eastern flank.
Finland, along with its Nordic counterpart Sweden, joined NATO in March 2024, ending decades of military non-alignment amid escalating security threats from Russia, which have increased since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Finnish public broadcaster Yle reported on Wednesday, citing new satellite imagery, that since last winter Russia has carried out major excavation and construction in the closed military town of Lupche-Savino, part of Kandalaksha in the northwestern Murmansk region.
Murmansk regional authorities said the military town is being built for a new artillery brigade and its personnel, with additional plans to house an engineer brigade.
The new construction included clearing 1.4 kilometers of forest and demolishing old buildings, with fresh structures completed over the winter, Yle reported.
Dual purposes behind build-up
Previously, this area was used mainly for storage. Military experts, who analyzed the images, said that the development represents a shift toward permanently reinforcing Russian forces along the border with Finland.
Marko Eklund, a retired Finnish military intelligence major with over 20 years of experience monitoring Russian forces, told Yle: “If the sole purpose was to send the troops to Ukraine, there would of course be no need for such infrastructure there.”
The Lupche-Savino garrison lies about 110 kilometers from the Finnish border in a strategically important location at the edge of the Kola Peninsula near the White Sea. Together, the artillery and engineer brigades are expected to bring over 2,000 soldiers to the area.
According to Russian media reports, Murmansk regional authorities have allocated 42 billion rubles (roughly €460 million) for renovating military towns, including the site in question.
Satellite images also reveal Russian military upgrades in other border areas, including the Karelian Isthmus and Petrozavodsk in the Karelia Republic in northwest Russia.
‘Nothing surprising or dramatic’
However, Finnish Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen told Yle that there is “nothing surprising” about the satellite images, saying: “Together with our allies, we have a good ability to monitor how Russia develops its own armed forces.
“We know very well what Russia is doing, and this is what we are preparing for in our own defense as well.”
He added: “Russia is putting quite a lot of effort into this new reform of the armed forces, and we have been well aware of it. There is nothing surprising or dramatic about this, but we have to be prepared.
“That’s why we also communicate the need for defense resources all the time. We know what kind of threats we need to prepare for.”
Simmering tensions
The development comes amid growing regional concerns that the Kremlin could be preparing for further aggression in Europe, where tensions have remained high since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
On Monday, Swedish public broadcaster SVT reported, citing satellite images from Planet Labs, that Russia has modernized at least five nuclear-linked facilities close to the EU and NATO borders in recent years.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte warned last week that Moscow is building up its military capabilities and “could be ready to use military force against NATO within five years.”