Admittedly on the border

That's what Russia wants.

The mountains.

Russia wants defensible frontiers yes

And the resources!

You can build massive fortresses with mountains.

Fortresses are outdated concepts

And pointless in conventional warfare

They're cool for storage and shelter in time of war.

To help keep a population safe

Yes the Caucasus are in Europe. But the Caucasian peoples (Georgians, Chechens, Ingush, etc) aren't descended from the Indo Europeans (the only ones who are, are the Armenians and Ossetians)
Course i consider Caucasians to be European and White. Just not descened from Indo Europeans.

They're a waste IMO

For the population sure

But for military purposes

Better served elsewhere

Well, it would be easily made into.

Doesn't have to be made for.

I would rather have a division than a fortress

Unless you build it underground it's pointless

Mountains????

And drilling out fortifications is expensive.

Solid bedrock rich in minerals?

Mountains are a natural barrier

You don't need to defend them

They defend themselves

So if you wanted the minerals and drilled into the mountains, you would not have those tunnels under hundreds of meters of solid rock be used for nothing after?

Why would you put your military in the mountains

Especially as Russia

I guess the ventilation would be a nightmare.

No.

You don't put the god damn military there.

You put civilians, and make it easily defensible?

You can only fit so many people

Because you still need citizens if you want a country.

Why not keep them in Moscow

And if they fire bomb the place you put everyone.

Moscow has shelters built in

Which can be expanded for cheaper

And are much more convenient than evacuating them several hundred miles through terrorist land

I guess most land combat is outdated...

Land combat certainly isn't outdated