NATO threat: Russia deploys newest howitzers to Finland’s border

Putin’s NATO threat: Russia deploys its newest howitzers to Finland’s border months after it joined military alliance, infuriating the Kremlin

• Testing of the new Coalition-SV self-propelled artillery units has been completed, the head of Rostec said

JAMES CALLERY FROM DAILYMAIL

Russia will soon deploy its newest howitzers to its Northern Military District which borders Finland months after the European nation joined NATO – a move that infuriated the Kremlin. 

The testing of the new Coalition-SV self-propelled artillery units has been completed and their mass production has already started, Sergei Chemezov, the head of Rostec told the state RIA news agency in an interview.

The first pilot batch will be delivered by the end of 2023, he said.

‘I think they will appear there (in the Northern Military District) soon, since howitzers of this class are needed to provide an advantage over Western artillery models in terms of firing range,’ Chemezov said.

In 2021, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin changed the status of the Russian Northern Fleet, whose zone of responsibility was chiefly the Russian Arctic, to the Northern Military District, incorporating into it also the Murmansk region, which shares borders with Finland and Norway.