And last month, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte cautioned that Moscow's military buildup might indicate a readiness for potential aggression within the next five years. The Kremlin has long been using nuclear threats more frequently in order to prevent Western intervention in the Ukraine conflict, and has done so with greater frequency since the onset.

Kaliningrad and Belarus: Modernization efforts
One of the sites pinpointed is in Kaliningrad, Russia's western exclave on the border with Poland and Lithuania. Triple-tiered fencing and a modern communications network can be seen at suspect nuclear weapons depot —The three layers of fencing and the new buildings can be seen in these satellite images from May 2025 and suggests massive upgrades to the installation. Poland's Foreign Minister RadosÅ‚aw Sikorski has said the site could accommodate up to 100 tactical nuclear warheads.

The Osipovichi facility, an old Soviet nuclear site in the ex-Soviet republic ofBelarus, renews itself in satellite imagery. The improvements include new air defense systems and a rail-loading station, indicating increased strategic capacity. In recent years, Belarus, a close Russian ally, has brought its defense position more closely in line with Moscow.

Arctic Northern Tasking
Farther north, imagery shows new infrastructure on Novaya Zemlya, a Arctic archipelago that was the site of historical nuclear testing. On the Kola Peninsula, which is near NATO members Finland and Norway, about 50 new bunkers have been built for submarine-launched ballistic missiles, along with a specialized pier to load those missiles onto submarines.

This is something which is being followed very closely in Sweden," Swedish Defence Minister Pål Jonson said that Sweden is following the developments in Sweden carefully. Sweden and Finland both acceded to Nato in March 2024, in pursuit of an answer to Russia's increasingly aggressive military stance.

Global Nuclear Modernization Trend
Russia's growing nuclear arsenal reflects a worldwide rise. Almost all of the nine nuclear-armed countries continued to modernize their nuclear arsenals in 2024, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Of all the estimated 12,241 nuclear warheads in the world, approximately 9,614 of them are in military arsenals.

The report observed a reversal of a decades-long trend toward disarmament: "Since the end of the Cold War, disarmament has been proceeding at a significantly faster pace than new deployments. But that isn't the case any more. "Instead, we witness more nuclear deployments and the slowing of dismantlement."