Finnish diary Iltalehti, citing NATO sources, revealed a Russian plan to attack the Alliance's east flank. The information provided shows that Moscow seeks to make a buffer region in Finnish Lapland and Norwegian Finnmark, which was to be practiced during earlier military maneuvers. In 2017, during the Zapad exercise, Russia conducted simulations of the attack on Norway, Finland and the Baltic countries.
The Russians did not quit their plan, but want to implement it after the end of the war in Ukraine – reported a NATO interviewer in a conversation with the journal.
That's how Putin sees it
The plan assumes that the Russians will attack the Norwegian coast from Murmansk side utilizing naval, land and air forces. In Finnish Lapland, they are to operate troops to take control of Ivalo Airport, and rocket troops from the Kolski Peninsula will play a key function in the attack. At least tens of thousands of soldiers would be active in the operation.
Moscow besides plans to take over the northern coast of the Gulf of Finland, which would make it hard to support Estonia's defence. According to NATO, Russia may search to recreate the borders set in the Treaty of Turku of 1743. As part of this plan, the Russian army would scope the Kemijoki River, and the next mark could be the Puumalansalmi Strait. It is besides possible to launch a rocket attack on Helsinki, but the Baltic countries are the main focus: Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
Finland armors
The dimension of the Finnish-Russian border is over 1343 kilometres, which gives a large field to the possible aggressor. For this reason Finland remains vigilant – on 19 December the Finnish Parliament approved the government's plan to importantly increase defence spending in the coming years. Ultimately, in 2032, Helsinki is expected to spend about 3.3% of GDP on defence, well above this year's spending at 2.4% of GDP. The plan for 2025 assumes spending of around US$6.8 billion, while in 2020 they amounted to US$3.5 billion. By 2032, the defence budget is expected to emergence to $11.5 billion.
In view of the possible threat from Russia, Helsinki plans not only to proceed key modernisation programmes specified as the acquisition of light frigates of the Ponhjanmaa kind and multi-purpose F-35A combat aircraft, but besides to launch fresh projects and reorganize the full state defence system.
