The Reuters news agency reported on howitzers being brought to Finland. The news is not true. In the translation, Russian “special operation” and “Northern Military District” are mixed up.
Jenny Matikainen,
Marko Eklund
Russia is not sending tank howitzers near the Finnish border. Many media reported on the matter on Wednesday morning, referring to the news agency to Reuters news.
This is a translation error, which was corrected by Reuters at noon Finnish time.
The Reuters story was originally based on a Russian to the information of the news agency RIA. According to the Reuters translation, Russia would be placing the howitzers in the Northern Military District, which extends to the borders of Finland and Norway.
However, the original RIA story does not mention the Northern Military District.
The story uses the abbreviation SVO, which means special operation. This is the term Russia calls its war of aggression in Ukraine.
The same abbreviation led to an error
The translation error has apparently occurred, because the abbreviation in question is used in the title of the RIA.
The same SVO abbreviation also means the Northern Military District, but that military district does not exist today.
The Northern Military District operated in the Soviet Union between 1951 and 1960. Currently, the forces operating near the Finnish border are the Western Military District and the Northern Navy.
The Northern Fleet has a status comparable to a military district, but officially it is not a military district. Its abbreviation is SF.
Russia exports howitzers to Ukraine
Reuters’ news spread to many media in Finland and the world. also initially reported the matter incorrectly, but corrected the news.
In the original RIA story, the director of the large Russian state corporation Rosteh, Sergei Chemezov, is interviewed. Rosteh manages, among other things, Russia’s military industry.
– I believe that the howitzers will appear there soon, because they are needed to achieve an advantage in firing range compared to Western artillery models, Chemezov said.
The story says that the howitzers are sent to the front in Ukraine.
It is a 2S35 Koalitsija anti-tank howitzer, i.e. a weapon made on the chassis of a tank, which is operated by the crew from the protection of the tank. According to the Russian state news agency Tassi, the range of the Koalitsija howitzer is up to 70 kilometers.
Read here the latest news about the Russian invasion
The news has been elaborated on 27 December 2023 at 11:41: Rosteh is not a Russian defense institution but a large corporation under which the military industry operates.