Yle.fi posted:

Russia has started strengthening its military installations near the Finnish border -- satellite images reveal the changes.

Russia has built large hangars at the Alakurtti base and Petroskoi equipment depot. These are used to store and maintain large equipment. Meanwhile more and more equipment has been moved out of Petroskoi to be used in the invasion of Ukraine.



Satellite images obtained by Yle reveal that Russia has built new hangars at military bases, including a depot for storing large equipment at Petroskoi. These additions have not been talked about in public until now. These building projects are the first concrete sign of Russia once again investing in its military infrastructure on the Finnish border. The bases near the border have not been developed in years.

Until now Russia has mostly been moving gear and troops away from the Finnish border and into its invasion of Ukraine. In 2022 Yle revealed that an entire battle group had moved out of Alakurtti.

Yle have examined several satellite images from the Alakurtti base from this summer. They reveal that the buildings were constructed to their full height in one day. The first hangar was built on the 9th of July, and the second on the 28th. In the latest pictures a third similar building can be seen, it was constructed in a day on the 11th of August.

The rapid time table tells of a new method of construction. A light metal frame is covered with a plastic/cloth roof, a specialist on the Russian military told Yle.

- This is the first time they have used this technology in the Nordic regions. Apparently it can also withstand very cold temperatures, says Marko Eklund. Eklund served in Finnish military intelligence and followed the Russian military for over 20 years. According to him, Russia have used this method of construction as early as in the 2010s, when it rapidly built new bases on the Ukrainian border.

Eklund estimates that the hangars in Alakurtti are a little over 100 meters in length, and about 25 meters wide. According to him, this is a big enough space for the combat vehicles of one battalion, in this case about 40 MT-LB transportation tanks.

Next to the new hangars can be seen rectangular areas, which are probably the foundations of buildings. However, they have been there since at least 2017. According to Eklund this is a construction project that was never finished, which is very common in Russia. Possibly some new traditional equipment hangars were planned in the area, but were made unnecessary by the new method of construction.

- These new hangars are a lot cheaper than the old ones, which were made out of metal and concrete, Eklund says.

Russia has placed roughly 2000 soldiers in the Alakurtti base, and at least a third, possibly as many as half, have been sent to Ukraine. The base is home to the 80th Arctic Motorized Infantry Brigade. The brigade has been trained for operations in the arctic darkness and cold. It operates armored personnel transports, but not main battle tanks.

These new hangars are large enough for only a portion of the base's equipment, which is currently exposed to the elements. If Russia decides to increase the amount of troops at the base, as it has threatened to do as a response to Finland's Nato membership, new hangars would need to be built very quickly.

The Alakurtti soldiers have taken losses in Ukraine. In June Ukraine struck the brigade's headquarters near the front lines, but more details about losses have not been disclosed.

In Petroskoi a new hangar went up in the middle of tanks
Yle also found a second large construction project at an equipment farm in Petroskoi. It is Russia's largest equipment build-up along the Finnish border. Originally the equipment at the base was stored outside, exposed to the elements. The pictures reveal the new structure, which Eklund estimates to be roughly 50 by 25 meters big. Large enough for about 50 tanks, if they are packed in. However the Petroskoi hangar is probably used for maintenance tasks.

According to Eklund, the base's current number one task is to maintain and fix up equipment and deliver it to the war in Ukraine. Petrosko is used to store large amounts of transport vehicles, self-propelled guns and artillery pieces. The equipment at the base would be enough for at the very least a mechanized brigade of 4000 soldiers. Most of the equipment at the based is stored outside, which makes it easy to see from satellite images just what is going on.

The equipment at Petroskoi is very old, so there are no guarantees that it's in any kind of condition. The equipment was collected to the base from units that were wound down after the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. Because the war keeps dragging on and Russia are running out of modern equipment, they have been forced to reactivate a lot of of old equipment.


("romua ja vanhoja renkaita" = junk and old tires, "kranaatinheittimiä" = mortars, "kuorma-autoja" = trucks, "uuden hallin runko" = the frame of the new hangar, "BTR-vaunukalustoa" = BTR vehicles, "SA-8-ilmatorjuntajärjestelmän vaunuja" = vehicles from the SA-8 anti-aircraft system, "BMP- ja BTR-runkoisia vaunuja ja 251-panssarihaupitseja" = BMP- and BTR series vehicles, and 251 series self-propelled guns")

Images taken on the 18th of June at the Petroskoi depot show Russian troops loading self-propelled guns onto train tracks, according to Eklund. He has calculated that the amount of guns at the Petroskoi depot has been going down steadily since the illegal invasion of Ukraine began. Since the spring of 2022, roughly 10 batteries have disappeared, most of them this year.



Since a battery has 12-18 guns, the Petroskoi depot has sent far over 100 guns to the war. Some of them are self-propelled, some are towed.

Yle has also monitored the situation at other bases near the Finnish border. According to the satellite images, no significant permanent changes have happened. Russia has repeatedly threatened to respond to Finland's Nato membership. In last December the defence minister Sergei Soigu proclaimed that Russia was strengthening its military forces along the border. He doubled down on the claim last month. So far no signs of this actually happening can be seen.

Could these new hangars be a sign of Russia slowly putting its money where its mouth is? Researcher Ilmari Kähkö, docent of military science, does not think the worry is warranted.

- Russia has nothing to strengthen the eastern border with. Rather they are hoovering what is here to be used elsewhere, and Ukraine is the number one target, Käihkö told Yle in a phone interview.

According to Käihkö Russia can't come anywhere close to having the men and equipment to realize Soigu's threats of strengthening the troops on the Finnish border, not as far as the war in Ukraine rages on.

- Soigu is just shooting off his mouth, Käihkö says.

Yle sent the fresh satellite images to Käihkö for review. He considers it likely that the new hangars will be used to repair equipment intended to be sent to Ukraine, and they are meaningless for Finland's security.

- We don't need to take any actions based on these images, he concludes. He also says that Finland's military intelligence is keeping well up to date on Russia's actions near the border.

CAT INTERCEPTOR posted:

They also have stockpiles. Lots of stockpiles. Doesnt matter if the failure rate is 30%, it's still of more than sufficent quantity.

Still, Russia of all places begging for ammo.

Glah posted:

This is the reason Swedes and Germans for example operate diesel-electric submarines.

Pablo Bluth posted:

Sub chat: The Royal Navy has commissioned 32 nuclear-powered submarines over the years. While 21 have since been decommissioned, exactly zero have been disposed of. They're just slowly accumulating in dock, because successive governments haven't wanted to be the ones who pay for dealing with it. It's one major headache less if you go diesel.

Edit: 22. The first sub will be fully dismantled by 2026, 34 years after being decommissioned.

RBA-Wintrow posted:

No joke, the Kilo class is planned to be succeeded by the Lada class.

Alan Smithee posted:

https://twitter.com/CovertShores/status/1536249200236761088

Tai posted:

Now we know why russian soldiers are short on rations

Dwesa posted:

Russia seems to be managing to avoid many Western-imposed sanctions and export controls, allowing its assessed missile production to now exceed pre-war levels, according to a number of US, European, and Ukrainian officials, cited in a New York Times report.

https://twitter.com/KyivPost/status/1701929629097795775

Dwesa posted:

I can fix her

https://twitter.com/christogrozev/status/1701915827325329464

Allegedly more than two ships/subs were damaged/destroyed

Dwesa posted:

Russia seems to be managing to avoid many Western-imposed sanctions and export controls, allowing its assessed missile production to now exceed pre-war levels, according to a number of US, European, and Ukrainian officials, cited in a New York Times report.

https://twitter.com/KyivPost/status/1701929629097795775

RBA-Wintrow posted:

No joke, the Kilo class is planned to be succeeded by the Lada class.

Jasper Tin Neck posted:

If you look at a Lada logo, you'll notice it looks like a ship.


Ladas were known as Zhiguli in the Soviet Union after the mountains by the Volga, but it was too hard for non-russian speakers to pronounce.

They chose instead to call it Lad'ya, after the barge-like boat type used by the Rus for sailing the Russian river network.

Shaman Tank Spec posted:

beer_war posted:

Should have put some tires on there.

Alan Smithee posted:

https://twitter.com/200__zoka/status/1700948649721634858

Shaman Tank Spec posted:

Wait poo poo where's that picture of Fat Kadyrov?

e:

lomzus posted:

https://twitter.com/leonidragozin/status/1701894484324241901

kuarduck posted:

Why did it cut out before he finished his aggressive T-pose?

Mr. Merdle posted:

So I've been in country for about 11 days. Worked with Dobrobat for 4 and am registered to work for the rest of the week. There's a large contingent of foreign volunteers here and the group seems pretty tight knit.

One of the biggest things I've learned is from a woman who worked as a paramedic on the front lines doing second echelon medivac work. She says that AFU soldiers are grossly undertrained and not prepared to manage patients after they are stabilized with CLS systems. She also says that corruption is still very present in the AFU, in one case resulting in the loss of 9 ambulances.

For my part, the organization I've been working with has no shortage of manpower or knowledge, but it's poorly organized at the job site level and under equipped. Tools frequently run out of battery power with no replacement batteries, and there are a lot of demo tools that are absent. Much of the demolition work we're doing is performed by tying a rope off to an assembly and pulling on it till it falls down.

That said, I'm proud to be here and there are solutions to these problems. The question is how quickly Ukranians will adopt them.

Tai posted:

Who is this ZOKA twitter person?

SirPhoebos posted:

who?

Flyinglemur posted:

As far as the Dutch sub running amok in a US carrier group, we used to do the same thing to our own carrier groups routinely. My first CO was Captain Tracy, who later went on to become the first Sub Admiral in charge of a carrier group. Anyway we had to find and infiltrate one of our CGs. We did it with impunity, to the point that for our last run, we were ordered to do it surfaced. This is, of course, NOT how a sub would do any of that, so our skipper got on the announcing systerm and let everyone know. A large sail was made and attached to the snorkel mast. Everyone was ENCOURAGED to make as much noise as possible and we got pretty far into the group before we got "hit". This was also BEFORE down periscope came out. I remember my mom called me after she saw it and said, "no one is going to believe you guys now" and I agreed. It was a fun night though.

Dwesa posted:

https://twitter.com/Gerashchenko_en/status/1701944950198333750

Icept posted:

I think it also made the news at least one time when the chinese surfaced a sub next to some US navy ships. The media made it out to be some huge scandal but I seem to remember the conclusion at the time was that pretty much any country with subs that can run on electricity can pull it off, at least in cases where the ships aren't on full alert.