The Russians are continuing to build defensive lines in rearguard areas, far from the current front lines and in areas where Russia will likely never fight, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in its latest assessment released on Friday evening.

The governor of the Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on Thursday that the Russian authorities have completed the construction of the fortified “Zasichna” line along the border of the Belgorod region with Ukraine.

Gladkov stated that the Russian army should allocate troops for the defense of this fortification system in the event of an attack by Ukraine (unlikely, according to ISV) on the Belgorod region.

Hundreds of millions of dollars spent on fortifications

By sending soldiers to these fortifications, Moscow would clearly misallocate forces that would be better suited to support active offensive actions in Ukraine.

Hladkov also said Russian officials had spent 10 billion rubles (about $132 million) on building the defense line, a waste of money amid questions about Russia’s ability to finance its military operations in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian General Staff also said on Friday that Russian forces are continuing to build fortifications along the border between Kursk Oblast and Ukraine, another area that will likely never see hostilities.

The head of occupied Crimea, Serhiy Aksyonov, said on Friday that Russian troops were building a defense line in Crimea and hinted that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered the line to be built.

These fortifications are located far from the current front lines in southern Ukraine, and any Russian soldiers and military equipment stationed on these lines would be better suited elsewhere in Ukraine.

Possible explanations

It is possible that Russian officials in the Kursk and Belgorod regions are building defensive fortifications to support information operations aimed at portraying Ukraine as a threat to Russian territory, in order to portray the war in Ukraine as existential for Russia.

The continuation of Russian fortifications in Crimea may indicate that Russian troops are not confident in their ability to long-term hold the occupied territories in southern Ukraine.

ISW does not currently observe the deployment of Russian forces on any of these defense lines, so the fortifications are currently irrelevant to Russian operations in Ukraine.

Images of the fortifications of Belgorod appeared on social networks: