Russian troops appear to be amassing on the Finnish border, a chilling move that has escalated fears of a global conflict. New satellite images have shown increased Russian military activity near Finland's eastern border, sparking fresh concerns of tensions reaching boiling point. Finland and Sweden joined NATO in 2023 and 2024, respectively, and Moscow appears to be making good on its threat of using "military-technical measures" if the alliance expanded eastwards.

The images, obtained by Swedish broadcaster SVT from satellite company Planet Labs, show a build-up of troops and military infrastructure at Kamenka, Petrozavodsk, Severomorsk-2 and Olenya in northwest Russia. The deployment echoes the amassing of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border in November 2021 - just months before Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale invasion of the country.

More than 130 military tents capable of housing up to 2,000 troops have been erected in Kamenka, just 35 miles from the Finnish border, since February, MailOnline reports.

Russia warned of rolling out "military-technical measures" in response to Finland's accession to NATO in April 2023 - and the country's latest move could be a bid to "deliberately test NATO's unity", Finland's Deputy Chief of Defence suggested.

Speaking to the German newspaper Welt last month, Lieutenant Vesa Virtanen said: "Russia has been testing Article 5 [NATO's collective defence clause] the whole time with mass migration, with cyber attacks, with GPS jamming, and attacks in the information space.

"During the war, there were about 20,000 soldiers stationed and about four standby brigades, now we see that Russia is building new infrastructure and as soon as they can, more troops in the region," he added. "So there will be more troops there in the future than before the Ukraine war."

The satellite images show three newly-contructed warehouses in Petrozavodsk, potentially for storing armoured vehicles, and a refurbished and operational Severomorsk-2 airbase following years of closure.

An airbase in Olenya, around 90 miles from Finland, also appears to be operational, with Russian bombers using the spot to conduct raids on Ukraine, according to officials in Kyiv.

Putin also announced a new 'Leningrad Military District' near the Finnish border and has deployed multiple military units to the area since Finland joined NATO.

An act of military aggression against one NATO member could trigger the response of the whole alliance, potentially dragging the world into a new conflict.

It comes after former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev warned that Finland and Sweden had enjoyed "certain international perks" while "non-aligned" from international defence alliances which they could no longer count on.

"Now they are part of a bloc hostile to us which means they automatically became a target for our armed forces, including potential retaliatory strikes and even the nuclear component or preventive measures within the framework of a military doctrine," he said.