Planned Russian military reforms that will increase Moscow's troop numbers by 30 percent are a threat to NATO and should be met with vigilance, the head of Finland's military intelligence service, Pekka Turunen, was quoted as saying by "Reuters" on Thursday.
Finland, which shares the European Union's longest border with Russia, has joined the western military alliance NATO in 2023. and lured its northern neighbor Sweden to follow suit in March 2024, both in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Finnish military intelligence service, headed by Turunen, noted in an annual review published on Thursday that Moscow had announced plans to reform its military by the end of 2026.
"Yes, it is a threat to NATO, especially if the plan is implemented," Turunen told Reuters, adding that he thought Russia could realistically achieve its goals by 2030. "We need to react, we need to be vigilant."
The Russian defense minister said in December that Moscow must be ready to fight NATO in Europe over the next decade. President Vladimir Putin, speaking at the same gathering, said Western leaders were "simply scaring their own populations that we will attack someone there, using the pretext of the mythical Russian threat."
Turunen said Russia was aiming for a 30 percent increase in its troop numbers, bringing the total strength of its army to 1.5 million soldiers.
The number of Russian troops based near Finland could double or triple compared to before the war in Ukraine, Turunen said, with a new corps to be stationed in Russia's neighboring Karelia region and existing units to be expanded on the Kola Peninsula and around St. Petersburg.
"This will be very much influenced by the situation in Ukraine, whether the war there will end or possibly remain in some kind of frozen conflict," he noted.