Finland is concerned that Russia would attack NATO’s eastern flank following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it has been reported.
Citing an alleged Finland government defense report, Finnish newspaper Iltalehti said that unnamed alliance sources had warned that Moscow intended to attack Finland and neighboring countries, including the Baltic states in the future, without specifying a timeframe.
The tabloid referred to how Russia had rehearsed an attack on Norway, Finland, and the Baltic countries during its Zapad military exercise in 2017 and that Moscow has since “not abandoned their invasion plan and want to carry it out after the war in Ukraine.”
When contacted via Newsweek, the Finnish Defence Forces (FDF) said in A that it would not comment on media relations “on rehearsals imaginable in other countries” and that such rehearsals “are general for any soldier”.
“There is no rapid risk in the army for Finland,” he said. Newsweek contacted NATO and the Russian Ministry of Defense to obtain comments by email.
World leaders have said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aggression would not stop with the invasion of Ukraine following previous warnings that Moscow would seek to exploit security flashpoints in Europe as far south as Georgia, which borders Turkey.
According to article five of the NATO Charter, a strike against a member would cause a collective response. Goris Pistorius Defense Minister said in June that Putin “could even attack an NATO country” and that Europe “must be in a position for the war until 2029”
In March, NATO conducted the Nordic Response 2024 exercise led by American Vice Admiral Douglas Perry, in which 20,000 soldiers were transferred to Northern Norway and Finnish Lapland.
Perry told the Finnish newspaper that Russia had been designated as a direct risk for the alliance, that wearing the operations required to “repel the Russian invaders. “
Micael Bydén, ex-commander of the Swedish Armed Forces warned in October that in the next few years, Russia may attack countries in the Baltic Sea region, which has been dubbed a NATO lake, following the accession of Sweden and Finland to the alliance.
The report cited by Iltalehti said that Putin’s invasion of Ukraine “has shown that Russia is prepared to take significant risks regardless of losses,” according to a translation.
The newspaper said that NATO’s resources had said that Russia could plan a simultaneous attack in other parts of the Eastern Flanco of the Alliance. These come with the 14th Corps of the Russian Army, making a movement from the Russian city of Murmansk to the Norwegian coast of the sea, land and air.
Russia could also send troops to Finnish Lapland to capture Ivalo Airport and Finland could be attacked by Russian missile forces stationed on the Kola Peninsula, the publication said.
NATO unidentified resources also said that Moscow would verify to create a damping area in northern Lapia and Finnmark in Norway, while the extra south, the Russian missile forces would point to the southern coast of Finland and the southeast of Finland, the outlet reported.
The 6th Army of Russia can visit Estonia’s attack and Latvia with a reservoir, artillery and missile attack to capture the capital Tallin and Riga, according to the report.
Meanwhile, Lithuania can face an attack through Bélarus, while Moscow seeks to identify a terrestrial bond between the Russian exclusion of Kalinningrad and Bélarus. According to the report, this can lead to the so -called Sowalki room as the inflammation point of any clash between Moscow and NATO, according to the report.
In addition, Russian missile forces stationed in Kaliningrad and its Baltic fleet would attack Gotland to make NATO’s ground forces in Sweden’s Baltic, the tabloid newspaper said.
“The idea of Russia’s security reflects the search for strategic intensity and the preference of creating a single cushioning zone in Europe, from the Arctic, the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea to the Mediterranean,” said the Finnish government report , according to the newspaper.
Henrik Gahmberg, a spokesman for the Defence Command, said in a statement: “The Finnish defence forces will not comment on media court cases regarding conceivable trials in other countries.
“Rehearsals are general for any army, and the FDF will not observe any of the imaginable operational perceptions if such repetitions have occurred,” he said.
“There is no immediate military threat to Finland. We are monitoring how the situation evolves and take necessary actions as usually we won´t comment on operational perceptions in our security environment.”
An unnamed NATO source told the newspaper Iltalehti: “In 2017, Russia rehearsed an attack on Norway, Finland and the Baltic countries in its Zapad exercise. The Russians have not abandoned their invasion plan and want to carry it out after the war in Ukraine.”
Micael Bydén, ex-commander of the Swedish Armed Forces: “Putin’s goal is to gain control of the Baltic Sea.”
The Finnish Defence Forces have stated in A that it “will not comment on media cases regarding conceivable tests in other countries.
“The trials are general for any member of the army, and the FDF will not observe any of the imaginable operational perceptions if such tests have occurred. “
Speculation about Russia having a long-term plan to invade NATO after Ukraine is likely to continue, but the alliance has warned of the immediate threat posed by Moscow’s so-called hybrid attacks.
These come with the alleged cutting of power and communication cables in the Baltic Sea, which Berlin described as “sabotage”.
Finland has taken an oil tanker who belongs to the so -called “shadow fleet” of Russia that was suspected of damaging five submarine cables on Christmas day.
When describing the demanding situations in the short term that Moscow raises to the Alliance, the Under Secretary General of the NATO and the leader of hybrids and cyberrels, one of those attacks “would understand the news of Sky” “.
“There is a genuine perspective of one of those attacks that cause a really extensive number of patients or very genuinely extensive economic damage,” he said.
Brendan Cole is a Newsweek journalist in London in the United Kingdom. Its objective is Russia and Ukraine, in specific the war introduced through Moscow. It also covers other geopolitical spaces, adding China. Brendan joined Newsweek in 2018 by International Business Times and, as well as in English, meets Russian and French. You can touch Brendan by sending an email to B. cole@newsweek. com or follow him in his account x @brendanmarkcole.