ISW explains why Russia builds defense lines in border regions and Crimea

Analysts of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) shared their newest report.

Russian troops continue to set up defensive lines in rear areas far from the current front line, as well as in Russia itself, where fighting is unlikely to ever take place, the ISW report says.

In particular, the governor of the Belgorod region of the Russian Federation, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said on March 9 that the Russian authorities had completed the construction of a “zasechnaya line” of fortifications along the border with Ukraine. He stated that Russian troops should allocate forces to defend this system of fortifications in case of a Ukrainian attack on the Belgorod region. Gladkov also said that Russian officials have spent 10 billion rubles (about $132 million) on the construction of the defense line, which analysts at the institute believe is likely a waste of money amid questions about Russia's ability to finance its military efforts in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian General Staff also reported on March 10 that Russian troops continue to build fortifications along the Kursk region's border with Ukraine. This is another Russian region where, according to ISW, there will probably never be any fighting.

In addition, the head of the occupied Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, said on March 10 that Russian troops were building a defensive line in Crimea. The institute noted that the fortifications in Crimea are far away from the current front line in southern Ukraine, and that Russian personnel and equipment deployed on these lines would similarly be better suited elsewhere in Ukraine.

ISW analysts believe that Russian officials in Kursk and Belgorod oblasts may be constructing defensive fortifications in support of information operations that aim to portray Ukraine as threatening Russian territory in order to frame the war in Ukraine as existential for Russia. 

Continued Russian fortifications in Crimea may suggest that Russian forces are unsure of their ability to hold occupied territories in southern Ukraine in the long term. 

ISW added that they have not observed Russian forces deployed to any of these defensive lines at this time, and the fortifications are therefore currently inconsequential for Russian operations in Ukraine.