Colonel Khodarenok explained what Russia's reaction will be to Finland and Sweden joining NATO
Finland and Sweden have completed negotiations on joining NATO. The Russian Foreign Ministry said that "Russia will be forced to take retaliatory steps of a military-technical and other nature to eliminate threats." What these steps may be - in the author's material of the military observer "Gazeta.Ru" by Mikhail Khodarenka.
The first thing Moscow seems to need to do in the event of Finland and Sweden joining NATO is to immediately strengthen the groups of troops on the north-western border, deploy Iskander tactical missile systems, S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems, as well as other promising weapons there. That is, to maximize the combat and numerical strength of the Western Military District.
But is this the only possible course of action for the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in the current situation?
The amplification scenario is very, very costly.
On the border with Finland, it will be necessary to start creating from scratch systems for basing missile troops, aviation and fleet, systems of bases and warehouses for storing stocks of material assets, a network of repair enterprises. We will have to carry out topogeodesic and cartographic preparation of this territory. In addition, it will require the construction of control points, the deployment of a military communications backbone network and its interface with a nationwide communications system, and the large-scale development of a military transport communications network.
And all this will have to be done mainly in a relatively sparsely populated region with difficult climatic conditions.
In this regard, we note that the next expansion of NATO is a state of the military-political situation in the north-western region, when both the potential danger of war and the possibility of its prevention are relatively equally present. To put it simply, the risk of a real conflict is minimal. This means that there is simply no need to start fortifying the defense lanes with Finland right now.
Therefore, an effective and relatively inexpensive option for a possible military-technical response may look like this.
As you know, the system of strategic actions of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation also includes the so-called "operation of strategic nuclear forces". The purpose of the operation is achieved by group or single nuclear strikes on the most important strategic objects and groupings of the enemy's means of attack, on his troops, economic facilities, state and military management systems.
Therefore, if strike groups of the North Atlantic Alliance troops are deployed on the territory of Finland and Sweden, strategic aviation is flown to forward-based airfields, any other means of armed struggle that pose an immediate threat to Russia's national security are relocated and deployed, then it is only necessary to clarify the plan of the strategic operation of the nuclear deterrent forces.
By all means of intelligence, it is necessary to identify targets of destruction on the territory of Finland and Sweden and make appropriate changes to the tasks for all types of nuclear weapons carriers involved in this operation as part of the new members of the North Atlantic Alliance.
And such measures will be much more effective and will not require any additional costs for the creation and deployment of new groups of troops and operational equipment of the territory of the theater of military operations in the north-west of Russia.
It should be done publicly. It will be a cheap, angry, but effective option. Moreover, Moscow needs to convey its determination to implement this action plan to the leadership of Finland and Sweden, and then these countries themselves, despite possible membership in NATO, will not allow the deployment of additional alliance forces on their territory. Just based on the instinct of self-preservation.
So the battle will be won even before it starts.
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for the newspaper.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy Commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia (1998).
Columnist of "Nezavisimaya Gazeta" (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Military-Industrial Courier" (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
