Satellite pictures indicate that over the past month, Russia has taken more than 100 units of heavy equipment from the border with Finland – this coincided with the start of Helsinki’s movement into the North Atlantic Alliance. This is stated in the publication of the Finnish yle.
The allotment of equipment was recorded in the military unit 34667, located in the village of Alakurtti, Murmansk region, 70 kilometers from the border with Finland. The military unit belongs to the Northern Fleet of the Russian Federation – the newest Russian military district.
In the military unit in Alakurtti, the 80th separate motorized rifle brigade, numbering 2100 military personnel. Back in early May, the Finnish media reported that there is no evidence of the mass participation of the brigade military personnel in the war in Ukraine.
But satellite pictures taken on May 13 and 24 indicate that the number of military equipment has significantly decreased in the military unit. They record, in particular, the removal of tanks and tractors of MT -LB – in total to hundreds of units, as well as probably self -propelled artillery plants “Cloves”.
According to the calculations of military expert Mark Eclund, up to 800 troops could leave with the equipment from the military unit in Alakirtti. He suggests that Russia decided to transfer them to Ukraine to participate in the war.
Eclund considers it unlikely that the military was removed from Alakurtti for the exercises, since they begin every six months and had to end just in the spring.
The fact that the military was sent for war to Ukraine can indirectly indicate fifty announcements about work in Alakurtti, which Yle journalists found on the Internet. Most are connected with the rear work – for example, lawyers, but there are more than two dozen vacancies of shooters.
Recall, Finland, along with Sweden, applied for joining NATO in May. On July 5, ambassadors of NATO member countries signed protocols on the entry of states into the Alliance. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg expects the ratification process will continue “for months.”