The Foreign Policy: Russia transferred 80% of the forces from the northern borders to Ukraine

Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has been transferring its troops from bases in Northern Europe to close the gap formed due to significant losses and against the backdrop of failures in confrontation with Ukrainian forces on the battlefield. About this with reference to the Western military writes the authoritative magazine The Foreign Policy .

The publication provides information from three high -ranking employees of defense departments in the region. According to them, initially the Russian group near the borders of the Baltic and Finland countries consisted of about 30 thousand military personnel, of which 80% were subsequently sent to Ukraine. In the area where the most dense concentration of Russian forces near NATO borders used to remain, Moscow had only a “backbone”.

“The reduction that we have been observed for the last seven months is very significant,” an unnamed military official of one of the Scandinavian countries told the publication. He added that for many decades Russia held a land group in the region, which now "almost disappeared." At the same time, the official noted that Moscow still retains a powerful air presence in the area. In addition, the number of the Russian Northern Fleet has almost not changed. But Russia moves some other military equipment to Ukraine, including anti -aircraft complexes and missiles.

The current and former employees of European and American defense departments in the comments of Foreign Policy emphasized that in the long run Russia poses a threat to the region, especially small Baltic countries. They expect that, regardless of the result of the war in Ukraine, Moscow will restore its military potential in the Western Military District.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced partial mobilization in the country for war in Ukraine. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said 300 thousand reservists will be called up. A number of sources say that the authorities plan to mobilize about a million citizens.

Also last week, Shoigu for the first time in a few months revealed an official assessment of the losses of the Russian army in the war with Ukraine. According to him, 5937 military personnel were killed since the end of February. This is multiplying lower than the assessments of Western intelligence and even lower than the number of deaths independently confirmed by investigators-by open sources of the Mediazone and the BBC, it was possible to establish the fact of the death of more than 6 thousand Russian military in Ukraine.