Putin is building new force to take on Nato

The Kremlin is expanding military recruitment, increasing weapons production and upgrading infrastructure along Russia’s northern borders.

Russia is building bases and expanding its military footprint near the Finnish border, in a sign of where its swollen army could be moved after a ceasefire in Ukraine.

New satellite imagery has revealed columns of new troop tents, expanding military bases and renovated Arctic airfields, all opposite Nato’s northeastern flank in what could be a harbinger of a future war.

The signals are elsewhere too. The Kremlin is expanding military recruitment, increasing weapons production and upgrading logistical infrastructure along Russia’s borders with Norway, Finland and the Baltics.

Finnish defence officials say the new build-up is small-scale, but is likely being done in preparation for tens of thousands of troops as well as military assets to be redeployed to their border and further north to the Arctic.

While not imminent, they told The Telegraph that the threat is very real. The officials believe they have up to five years until Moscow can beef up its forces to concerning levels if the full-scale war in Ukraine comes to and end.

“We joined Nato, so we anticipated this,” said Major General Sami Nurmi, chief of strategy of the Finnish defence forces. The military, he said, is “watching very closely and preparing accordingly”.

“What we are seeing are the preparations for the future” when Russia will bring back the forces fighting in Ukraine, he told The Telegraph. “But the troops on our borders will grow.”

He added: “We do not see any immediate threat towards Finland.”

Donald Trump said the same on Tuesday. Responding to Russia’s military manoeuvres, the US president claimed he was “not worried at all” and that Finland and Norway would be “very safe”.

Finland, which was forced to cede territory to the Soviet Union in the Second World War, spent decades persuing a policy of neutrality until it decided to join Nato in 2023 in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

The country’s accession to the alliance extended Nato’s frontier with Russia by 835 miles, changing the military strategic situation in northern Europe.