Maybe Russia couldn't afford to respond in-kind to Finnish closures last month. Russia likly depends deeply on trade with Finland. Perhaps Russia still can't materially afford to do so but cannot afford inaction or not responding to it without Putin looking weak to Kremlin Oligarchs or look weak to NATO.
Or maybe Russia needed time to figure out how it was going to replace trade with Finland before pulling the trigger. Either way. "Everyone who is anyone" knew it was coming.
I believe most of the Russian military movements and base re-openings along the Finish and Baltics boarders is in response to previous NATO actions over the last year. New nato regiments in the Baltics. Finland joining NATO ect ect.
That it took this long for Russia to respond is the curiosity. Itās also fair to say I think that most of these overt Russian military unit movements in the north are Potemkin villages.
For one it is a far stretch for Russian leadership to think NATO is going to launch an invasion anytime soon.
Two given the difficulty Russia has had at dispatching Ukraine and the tax it has imposed on their conventional military. The proposition that Russia is considering anything offensive along their northern boarder is not really plausible.
It does how ever indicate Russias intentions to not cede one more kilometer. Excluding whats going on in Ukraine. A red line you might say. Which might be helpful to remember. If in a year or two there are murmurings in the west about flipping Belarus.
With the TRIPP in Armenia/Azerbaijan and trade deals with Kazakhstan. Finland and Sweden joining NATO and Finland now considering being a forward staging base for nuclear weapons.
This proverbial imaginary/or not box around Russia is tighter than itās been since pre-Soviet days. It is only their Nukes that give any pause to listen to their displeasures.
Letās also not forget ROK and Japan and NATO actively forging closer military cooperation and defense technology development. One more side of that box
Contrary to what many here might consider as a negative. Consider the US posturing for a smaller presence in Europe/NATO. All while Western European nations scrambling to bolster their militaries and force projection as a good thing.
What we absolutely know after the Ukraine war. Russia does not have the conventional military capacity to launch any significant military operation against NATO. Their nukes are of course have and will continue to be a real and significant threat. But aside from assuming that if Russia did launch against a European capital or military base. Do we really think a war under these conditions is going to involve western battalions of armor storming across the boarder? It will be fought with ballistic missiles as AirPower for the critical fist 48 hours. And in that time it will besides if it escalates. Tanks and divisions of infantry will have little impact initially.
So Europe and other allies are modernizing their militaries. US is focusing attention on other spheres of influence SA Asian Malaka the gulf. And of course letās not forget the struggle for influence in the central Asian corridor.
Itās not an altogether undesirable strategic approach to the world now and the direction in which it was heading.