Is it true that Finland has deployed tanks to the Russian border?

At the beginning of May 2022, a video circulated on social networks and news channels showing a train transporting several dozen tanks. It was alleged that Finland was sending this equipment to the border with Russia. We checked how true this information is.

This is what the Telegram channel said "Ukraine 365" on the night of May 3-4: “Finland is transferring military equipment to the eastern border. Residents of Tampere (Finland) record the transfer of military equipment to the border with Muscovy. These are mainly Leopard tanks."

And indeed, in the attached video you can see the movement of a large train loaded with tanks. Finnish-like speech can be heard in the background. About 90,000 people read this news on the Telegram channel. It was also distributed by such popular Russian and Ukrainian resources as "Dialog.ua", "Novini Live", "OTR", "Today" (also in Telegram), "Reedus", "LenTV24" And "Yaplakal". Related note on "Peekaboo" read by more than 200,000 people.

In recent weeks, military news related to Finland has often made headlines in the world's media. We are talking, first of all, about the country’s possible entry into NATO. 13 April Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin statedthat Finland will decide in the coming weeks whether it should apply for membership in the North Atlantic Alliance. 22 April NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg notedthat the alliance will gladly accept Finland and Sweden into its ranks if they wish. And on May 9, the media, citing representatives of the military bloc reportedthat the process of approving the proposed application will be expedited and will take only about two weeks.

However, at the time the news appeared, Finland was not yet a NATO member. And already on May 4, the press service of the Finnish Defense Forces came out with statement: “A video is spreading online claiming that tanks are being deployed to the borders of Finland. This is not true. The tanks were transferred to the mechanized ground forces exercise Arrow 22. The exercises are taking place in Niinisalo and Säkylä.”

And indeed, back in mid-April, the Finnish military department announced military exercises Arrow 22 (2–13 May 2022) with the participation of the military of Great Britain, Latvia, the USA and Estonia, and the hosts of the exercises were to be represented by an armored brigade. It was planned that the tracked vehicles would be delivered to the exercise site by rail. Let us add that the indicated populated points are located in southwestern Finland, near the coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, at almost the maximum possible distance from the Russian border.

It would seem that the issue has been resolved. However, in our time, official reports cannot be unconditionally trusted, especially if they are made by military departments. Therefore, I would like to know where the video in question was filmed. And it is not difficult to find it, since in the Finnish city of Tampere mentioned above there are not many places where the railway line intersects with roads. Here one of them, in the northern part of the city. As can be seen from the surroundings, this is the same place:

On the left side of the frame, a new high-rise building has grown since the last shooting for Google Street View (July 2009):

Finally, by comparing the direction of the train in the video with the map, we are convinced that the train is heading west:

Tampere itself is located in the southwest of Finland, and the sea begins about 100 km from it. This is the direction of movement opposite to Russia. But in a similar way you can get to the places where the exercises were supposed to be held.

Thus, all the facts indicate that the disseminated message represents an honest mistake or deliberate misinformation.

Cover image: Wikipedia.

Not true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on topic:

1. No, a Video Doesn’t Show Finland Moving Tanks to the Russian Border