Newly released satellite images show a Russian military buildup at Finland's border, two weeks after former Russian leader Dmitry Medvedev suggested that Sweden and Finland could be in the Kremlin's crosshairs for joining NATO.
The pictures from the earth imaging company Planet Labs PBC show more combat vehicles and expansions to military infrastructure.
"If the Russians follow their current plans, there can be tens of thousands new soldiers near the borders of Norway, Finland and the Baltic countries in the coming years," Emil Kastehelmi, a Finnish military analyst, told Newsweek.
Lt. Gen. Vesa Virtanen, Finland's deputy chief of defense, last month warned that Russia's actions on the border suggested the Kremlin was "deliberately testing NATO's unity to see if it will trigger Article 5 — the alliance's collective defense clause."
Michael Claesson, Sweden's chief of defense, told SVT that when his country applied to join NATO, "Russia said it would take military-technical measures — here I see a direct connection, that's what they are doing."