Opinion

Russia pulled back from the Arctic, for now. NATO must act before those troops return

Satellite imagery shows missile systems vanishing as new barracks and depots rise near Finland and Norway

By Lt. Col. Robert Maginnis, (ret.) Fox News

Published July 27, 2026 5:00am EDT

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While serving as an infantry battalion and brigade operations officer in Alaska, I learned that the Arctic is among the most unforgiving battlefields on earth. Aircraft can deliver soldiers to remote areas, but they cannot improvise roads, fuel or supply units once the fighting begins. In extreme cold, poor preparation kills soldiers as surely as enemy fire.

That lesson returned as I studied recent satellite imagery from Russia's far north. Advanced air-defense systems are disappearing from established Arctic positions even as Russia pours concrete for barracks and depots closer to Finland and Norway.

The two trends look contradictory. They are not. Russian President Vladimir Putin is operating on two clocks: sustaining today’s war effort while building options for a confrontation on NATO's northern flank once the Ukraine conflict slows.

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The empty positions

Start with what Moscow is giving up. Near the Rogachevo airfield on Novaya Zemlya, Russia's Arctic archipelago, most air-defense assets at a longstanding missile position have been removed. Farther south, roughly two dozen S-300 and S-400 systems have disappeared from sites around Severodvinsk, the White Sea city where Russia builds and repairs nuclear submarines. Some protection may remain, but the reduction at these two vital locations is unmistakable. Russia is not abandoning the Arctic. It is accepting greater risk there.

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