According to sources, Vladimir Putin has strengthened his strategic nuclear bombers at an airbase near the Finnish and Norwegian borders.
The decision comes at a time of heightened uncertainty over whether he intends to launch a nuclear assault in Europe and his ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
He has steadily expanded the number of strategic bombers stationed at Olenya air base from none on August 12 to four Tu-160s on August 21 to eleven at present.
According to sources, Vladimir Putin has strengthened his strategic nuclear bombers at an airbase near the Finnish and Norwegian borders.
The Kola Peninsula facility has seven Tu-160 strategic bombers (marked in red on newly published satellite pictures) and four Tu-95 aircraft (marked in yellow).
The information was received by Faktisk.no, an independent Norwegian fact-checking website, via American satellite operator Planet.
The buildup above the Arctic Circle comes two weeks after The Jerusalem Post reported a “extraordinary deployment” of seven nuclear bombers at the airbase, causing diplomatic concern.
ImageSat International, an Israeli intelligence firm, identified the “irregular presence” of TU-160 and TU-95 aircraft.
The Armageddon aircraft are typically stationed at Engels Air Base, approximately 750 kilometers south-southeast of Moscow.
The bombers are close to the borders of NATO members Norway and Finland, who will soon join the Alliance.
They are also compatible with traditional weapons.
There is evidence that Olanya has Kh-101 cruise missiles that might be used against Ukrainian targets.
The Kh-101 can transport both conventional and nuclear weapons.
On August 12, the runway at Olenya airbase was vacant.
Since Soviet times, the Tu-160, also known as White Swan and Blackjack in the West, has been the workhorse of Russia’s strategic missile forces.
The ultra-loud Tu-95, also known as Bear, is the only active propeller-powered strategic bomber in use today.
The aircraft first took flight seventy years ago.
Putin has dispatched Tu-95s to buzz Britain during times of heightened tension, as as in February of this year, when the Royal Air Force scrambled Typhoon fighters to accompany two Bears off the coast of northern Scotland.