Russia escalates tension by placing nuclear arms near Finland

The Russian military has deployed tactical nuclear weapons on the border with Finland, which joined NATO in April of last year and abandoned its neutral status. "In the bordering region of Karelia, Iskander-M operational-tactical systems have been deployed," reports Izvestia, citing sources in the defence ministry.

Many reports from Russian media or representatives of the government are part of propaganda. Such reports are elements of the informational war led by the Russian Federation.

As "The Moscow Times" reports, the systems stationed near the Finnish border are capable of launching manoeuvring and ballistic missiles, including those with a nuclear warhead. The Iskanders have become part of a separate missile brigade, which in turn has become part of the newly established Leningrad Military District.

"The Leningrad Military District also includes the 11th and 14th Army Corps, stationed in the Kaliningrad and Murmansk oblasts," report Izvestia's sources.

Admiral Vladimir Valuev, former commander of the Russian Baltic Fleet, stated, "The creation of a missile brigade is a response to Finland's accession to NATO."

"Currently, Russia's border with NATO countries has increased by almost 1,300 km, and the bloc contains the largest artillery of soldiers in Europe, consisting of 1.5 thousand guns, including 700 howitzers, 700 large-calibre mortars, and 100 rocket systems," claims Valuev.

At the end of last year, Finland signed a defence cooperation agreement with the United States. For American soldiers, 15 facilities and zones were made available to store military equipment and ammunition. These include four airbases, a military port, and a railway line in the country's north. Military equipment depots will be located along routes leading to the border with Russia.

"The very fact of re-establishing the Leningrad Military District abolished during the military reform at the beginning of 2010, indicates that the Kremlin is preparing for a large-scale war with NATO in the longer term," believe experts from the American Institute for the Study of War.

Until recently, the entire western border of the Russian Federation was controlled by units of the Western Military District. This blurred the "strategic point of gravity" of Russian forces, notes ISW. By a decree of Vladimir Putin on February 26, the Western Military District was divided into two districts: from now on, Moscow will control the border with Ukraine and Poland, and Leningrad will control the northeastern border of NATO.

"This will help the army to simultaneously control fights in Ukraine and occupy strategic positions in relation to the NATO member countries," believes ISW. The institute's experts also remind that "the Kremlin explained the decision to create the Leningrad Military District with the accession to NATO of new members – Finland and Sweden".