18 minutes agoFinnish intelligence chief calls for increased vigilance due to Russia
Periskopi(a year ago)
(a year ago)Planned Russian Army Reforms, respectively, pose threat to NATO and for that one should increase vigilance. So said Finland's military intelligence service chief Pekka Turunen on 16 January. Finland joined NATO's Western military alliance in 2023. After that, even [...]
Finland joined NATO's Western military alliance in 2023.
After that, neighboring Sweden joined the alliance in March 2024. The two Nordic states took this step in response to the launch of Ukraine's Russian occupation.
The military intelligence service, led by Turunen, in the annual review released Thursday, said Moscow has announced it plans to make reforms in its military at the end of 2026.
“Yes, this is a threat to NATO, separately if this plan applies”, Turunen told Reuters, adding that he thinks Russia is likely to achieve its goals by 2030.
We must react, in the sense that we need to be more vigilant”.
Russia's Defence Ministry said last December that Moscow should be willing to fight NATO in Europe in the next decade. Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking at the same meeting, stated that Western leaders “are just scaring their population that we will attack someone, using the pretext of Russian mythic threat”, REL reports.
Turunen said Russia aims to raise its troop numbers by 30 percent, which would lead the total number of soldiers to 1.5 million.
The number of Russian soldiers stationed near Finland could double or triple compared to the period before the start of the war in Ukraine, Turun said.
