Putin To Boost Troop Deployment Along Finnish Border

Delivering a lengthy interview on state TV ahead of the 15-17 March election, President Vladimir Putin claims that Russia will boost its troop deployment along the Finnish border following the country's entry into NATO. He called Finland's entry to NATO "an absolutely meaningless step from the point of view of ensuring their own national interests. However, it is up to them to decide. That's what they decided. But we didn’t have troops there, now we will."

• Finland has closed its border to foot traffic from Russia, allegding a hybrid attack from Moscow coming in the form of immigrants being bussed to the border by Russian authorities in order to sow discord and raise security threats to Finland.
• The deployment of an increased number of troops and resources along the lengthy Russo-Finnish border is not a surprise. But it will act as a drain on Russia's already strained military, given the difficulty it has experienced in sustaining the size of its armed forces in the face of heavy losses in its invasion of Ukraine.