According to the Kremlin, one of the reasons to start the SMO was Ukraine’s efforts to join NATO. At the same time, Putin constantly assures that there is no military expansion from the Russian Federation in the direction of NATO. The project “Voice of America” provided other data. Over the past two decades, Russia has built several dozen new bases and restored Soviet bases along the line bordering Western Europe.
The main thing is to say
The Kremlin constantly blames the West for the expansion of the Alliance towards the Russian Federation. This is one of the main narratives that is constantly put in the minds of Russians. “Enemies are all around, and they are doing everything to destroy us,” is heard almost every day.
Bold and confident
In fact, the Russian Federation is taking decisive expansionary steps and the pace is only increasing. If you analyze everything together, their number and scale are impressive.
The main directions of expansion are as follows:
– Suwalki corridor. Kaliningrad has always acted as an exclave between Poland and Lithuania. Since 2016, military units with weapons, which form the 11th Army Corps, have been concentrated there. This makes it possible to seize the Suvalki corridor, a strip up to 80 km long between Belarus and Kaliningrad.
– Moldova. About 3.5 thousand military personnel are concentrated in Transnistria.
– Serbia. A military base was created here in 2020, which Russian politicians officially call the humanitarian center of the city of Nis. Helicopters and fighters are located at the dual-use base.
The trend can be seen from the analysis of documents. Thus, over two decades, Russia has increased military spending by 300%. Plans for future expansion are obvious, and they are judged not by the words of the Kremlin leader, but by actions.
Time to decide
In addition to the European direction, there are others. For example, the hybrid expansion of Russia in the Arctic, about which the average citizen of both Russia and Europe or the USA knows little. For the time being, this war continues in favor of the Russian Federation.
It is obvious that the open war in Ukraine hinders Putin’s plans to move further toward NATO. But the West wants Ukraine to hold the invasion in such a way that Europe does not spend a lot of money on it, but rather actively strengthens its own security. Practice shows that it will not be possible to limit oneself to such actions.
