Russia's New Regiment Sounds Warning to Finland

Large-scale changes to Russia's military announced on Tuesday will include the creation of an army corps in a region which borders Finland.

In a statement released by the Russian Ministry of Defense, defense minister Sergei Shoigu said Moscow would "form an army corps in the Republic of Karelia," which lies next to its Nordic neighbor with which Russia shares an 830-mile border. Finland also has two regions, North Karelia and South Karelia bordering the Russian republic bearing the same name.

Moscow threatened in May 2022 to take "retaliatory steps" after Finland declared it would join NATO in light of the growing perceived threat posed by Russia following its invasion of Ukraine.

Petri Mäkelä, a Finnish military and security expert, told Newsweek that Shoigu's announcement had not become part of discussions in Finland yet and that the "current situation is that the border area has less Russian troops than ever."

He said that since Finland had announced its NATO aspirations, there had not been any overt stepping up of belligerence towards Helsinki from Moscow so far "and Finland has increased readiness very efficiently recently."

"But the deployment of the next wave of mobilization will tell a lot," Mäkelä said. "At the moment there are no combat efficient troops between me and St. Petersburg."

Newsweek has contacted the Finnish defense ministry for comment.

Finland's announcement of its intention to join NATO, reignited historical tensions between Helsinki and Moscow. The Soviet Union invaded Finland in 1939 in what is known as the Winter War. Following a peace treaty in 1940, the countries clashed again in the Continuation War that began in 1941 and lasted until 1944.

Shoigu also announced "three motorized rifle divisions in the ground forces and two air assault divisions in the airborne forces," as well as two new military districts, Moscow and Leningrad.

He also said that Vladimir Putin has decided to increase the size of the armed forces to 1.5 million servicemen," which followed a proposal announced after a meeting of military top brass on December 21.

At the start of 2022, Russia's armed forces comprised of around one million military personnel, according to state news agency Tass. This had increased to 1.15 million at the start of 2023, the agency added.

Shoigu said that the changes are planned to take place over the next three years and would require all his deputies, commanders-in-chief of the branches of the armed forces and commanders "to make appropriate competent decisions."