International security

Putin’s Big Military Buildup Is Behind NATO Lines

The level of new military construction activity in Kaliningrad was recently exposed at the unclassified level, with reporting that included significant analysis of commercially available overhead imagery. Russia is increasing its overall storage capability at the major depot for tactical nuclear weapons. At Primorsk, the key naval base, it has constructed 40 new weapons bunkers. And at Chkalovsk, the main air base, major aviation and weapons-storage improvements have been made, including to the storage sites of Russia's highly sophisticated (and highly controversial) Iskander short-range missiles, operated by the 152nd Missile Brigade. 

All of this has NATO jumpy, with Foggo commenting in the run-up to Trident Juncture, "If they will challenge us, we will challenge them." The U.S. ambassador to the alliance, Kay Bailey Hutchison, talked about “taking out” the missiles if necessary. It all has a distinctly Cold War feel to it, and because of events in Asia and the Middle East, it is being largely underreported and underprioritized. We need to understand the strategic moves afoot here.