A satellite image of Sakkiluoto/Sackilot island, festooned with docks, from 2015. The helipad is on its eastern shore. Google Earth
Warzone/The Drive: Rumors of Covert Russian Ops Swirl After Finland's Police Raid Bond-Esque Private Island
Finnish authorities said it was all about money laundering, but the island's strategic location, multiple docks, helipad, and more suggest otherwise.
For more than a month, a mystery of sorts that sounds ripped straight out of a Hollywood spy thriller has been brewing in Finland. Officially, Finnish authorities are investigating a Russian real estate company over money laundering, but a lack of information about the case has led to widespread speculation that the firm was actually buying up land and setting up covert facilities to support Russia’s spies during peacetime and special operations forces during a potential crisis.
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Update #1: Mystery and fear haunt tiny Finnish island which neighbours Russia (Sydney Morning Herald/The New York Times)
Update #2: Finnish soldiers find 'secret Russian military bases' after raiding mysterious island (The Independent)
WNU Editor:Russian oligarchs are known to buy islands and they are also known to be paranoid about security. But this case .... it is a special one.
