Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with journalist Pavel Zarubin that Finland was “dragged” into the North Atlantic Alliance. Therefore, Russia will now need to gather military units in the Leningrad Military District.
“We had very kind and friendly relations with Finland. Everything economic has been improved <…> There was no problem, now there will be. Because we will create the Leningrad Military District there and concentrate certain military units there,” Putin said, wondering why Helsinki needed all this.
As stated by the Russian Ministry of Defense, Moscow and Leningrad military districts (Moscow Military District and Leningrad Military District) It will be created at the end of 2023, and the combined arms and air armies will also be included in the RF Armed Forces. (according to other sources – Air Force and Air Defense Army)army units (Headquarters in Petrozavodsk)five divisions and 26 brigades.
What are these new military zones?
In fact, the question is not about creating from scratch the Moscow Military District and the Leningrad Military District, but rather about the reconstruction of two military districts that existed as part of the Armed Forces of the USSR and Russia – Moscow and Leningrad. . Central St. The current Western Military District (WMD), located in St. Petersburg, was created on the basis of two military districts – the Moscow Order of Lenin and the Leningrad Order of Lenin – during the organizational and personnel events of 2008-2010.
Therefore, currently due to the changing geostrategic situation (primarily with the accession of Finland to NATO) the Western Military District will be divided into the Moscow Military District and the Leningrad Military District. At the same time, it is planned to significantly strengthen the combat and numerical power of both military regions.
To create new units, formations and associations, “numbers” will be needed, as employees of the organization and mobilization departments say. For example, the two recreated military districts need to be significantly populated with district affiliated units and formations. These are artillery, engineer-sapper, pontoon-bridge brigades, electronic warfare brigades, communications brigades, etc. may contain.
At the beginning of this year, the personnel level of the Russian Armed Forces was determined. 2,039,758 people. It is planned that this number of military personnel will be enough to form new brigades, divisions and armies.
How will the situation at the borders change?
It should not be assumed that a fence of regiments and divisions of the Russian army will grow along the border with Finland, a new member of the North Atlantic Alliance, and the entire 1,300 km adjacent territory on the Russian side will be filled with anti-police. tank hedgehogs, trenches and barbed wire. Nevertheless, there is reason to believe that all organizational and personnel measures on the part of the RF Armed Forces will be carried out taking into account the capabilities of the country’s economic complex.
Of course, it is possible to immediately strengthen the troop groups on the northwestern border, deploy the Iskander operational-tactical missile systems and S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems there, redeploy operational-tactical aviation units to this region, and also deploy other promising weapons. . That is, to maximize the combat and numerical strength of the recreated Leningrad Military District.
However, there are serious difficulties on this path. It will be necessary to start creating almost from scratch systems for basing missile forces, aviation and the navy on the Finnish border, base and warehouse systems for storing supplies, and a network of repair enterprises. It will be necessary to carry out topographic, geodetic and cartographic preparation of this region. In addition, it will be necessary to build command centers, establish a military communications backbone network and interface it with the national communications system, and large-scale development of a military transport communications network.
And all this will have to be done mainly in a relatively sparsely populated region with difficult climatic conditions. There is no possibility of a sharp increase in military budget items related to the deployment of new troop groups to the Finnish border, even more so in the conditions of the Northern Military District and under the strongest sanctions pressure – and we must state this very clearly. about this. In this respect, we must remain in the position of military realism.
Effective response to Russia
The next expansion of NATO is one in which the military-political situation in the northwestern region is such that both the potential danger of war and the possibility of preventing it exist in relatively equal measure. Simply put, the risk of a real conflict is minimal at this stage. This means that there is no need to immediately start equipping defense lines with Finland fortification today.
Therefore, an effective and relatively cheap version of a possible military-technical intervention could look like this. As is known, the system of strategic action of the Russian Armed Forces also includes the “operation of strategic nuclear forces”. The aim of the operation is achieved by group or single nuclear strikes on the enemy’s most important strategic targets and offensive weapon groups, troops, economic facilities, state and military control systems.
If strike groups of NATO troops are deployed on the territory of Finland and Sweden, if strategic aviation flies to forward-based airfields, if any other means of armed combat are redeployed and deployed, posing a threat to the national security of Russia, then this is just to clarify the plan for the strategic operation of nuclear deterrent forces It is necessary.
Using all means of reconnaissance, it is necessary to identify targets on the territory of Finland and Sweden and make appropriate changes in the tasks of all types of nuclear weapons carriers involved in this operation in relation to the new NATO members.
And such measures will be much more effective and will not require any additional costs for the formation and deployment of new groups of troops and operational equipment on the territory of the military theater of operations in the north-west of Russia.
This must be done publicly. This would be a cheap, cheerful but effective option. Moscow needs to convey to the leaders of Finland and Sweden its determination to implement this action plan, and Then these countries will not allow the deployment of additional alliance forces on their territory, despite possible NATO membership. It is simply based on the instinct of self-preservation. In this way, the war will be won before it even begins.
The author’s opinion may not coincide with the editors’ opinion.
Author biography:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for socialbites.ca, a retired colonel.
Graduated from Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976),
Military Command Air Defense Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980–1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986–1988).
Senior officer of the Main Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988–1992).
Officer of the General Staff Main Operations Department (1992–2000).
Graduate of the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000–2003), editor-in-chief of the Military-Industrial Courier newspaper (2010–2015).