/ world today news/ The Finnish Navy conducted its first exercise after the country’s accession to NATO. Finns violently celebrate this event, in the country, as local publicists write, “delight and joy reign”. What military forces does Finland have, how exactly can this country strengthen NATO – and what specific threats does the Finnish armed forces now pose to Russia?
“Well, Finland is in NATO. Enthusiasm and cheerful moods reign – now we do not care about the backward Russians with their lead soldiers with museum weapons. Someone says that 04/04/2023 can be considered as the second independence day. It’s a pity that I won’t see how in a few decades the Finns will tell touching stories again. Although in fact, all by yourself, with your own hands. However, the story goes so fast that maybe I myself will see how the planes take off later”, ironized the publicist Alexander Komari, who lives in this country.
They cooperated closely anyway.
When the initial enthusiasm died down, experts and journalists began to discover: what exactly will membership of the Alliance bring to Finland? “In a practical sense, not so much: Finland became an official partner of NATO in 1994, closely cooperates with the armies of the Alliance, meets all its technical and institutional requirements,” writes the BBC, for example.
In fact, Finnish troops have regularly participated in Alliance exercises in recent years. In 1997, Finland joined the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. The Finnish military contingent was present in Afghanistan almost the entire time NATO soldiers were there. In 2008, Helsinki joined NATO’s Rapid Reaction Force, and in 2014 became a partner in the Alliance’s Enhanced Capabilities Programme.
In May 2017, a major joint Finnish-NATO air force exercise took place in Finnish Lapland. The Finns regularly bought weapons from the United States – for example, in 2021 it was decided to purchase a large batch of F-35 fighter-bombers. In general, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg not without reason notes that the Finnish armed forces fully correspond to the level of the Alliance and can be integrated in all areas of its activity.
In October 2021, the Finnish cabinet published the government’s defense report for 2021, addressed to the country’s parliament. Specifically, it contained the following lines: “NATO plays a central role in European security and a strong and united NATO is in the interests of Europe and Finland.”
What can Helsinki offer the North Atlantic Alliance at this stage? Not so little. Finland’s contribution is in its armed forces and territory. Mina Olander, an expert at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, emphasizes that Finland has a large land force for a country of its size and has universal conscription, which most countries in Western Europe have abandoned.
“In case of war, the number of the Finnish army can be up to 280 thousand people, and the total reserve – 870 thousand. A total of almost a million people can be mobilized in a population of five and a half million. Finland has also invested a lot in air defense and artillery, which is one of the most powerful in Europe,” Olander says.
They won’t be bringing in troops for now
One of the most intriguing questions is: Will troops of other NATO countries be stationed on the territory of Finland? According to experts, it is still unlikely that a NATO base will appear in Finland. Matti Pesu, a leading researcher at the Helsinki Institute of International Affairs, points out that since joining the alliance, every Finnish garrison is effectively a NATO base. At issue, however, is NATO’s combat formations, part of the Alliance’s so-called Enhanced Forward Presence, which are now deployed in eight countries. The closest one to Finland is currently located in Estonia.
Fabrice Pothier, a senior fellow at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, said there was no talk yet of deploying troops from other alliance countries to Finland. “A country should not even automatically join a NATO operation just because it is a member,” says Potier.
For his part, Brigadier General Juha Pyukonen, who the local media presents as a “security expert”, allows that at this stage Finland could get a small NATO headquarters to lead the country’s troops.
“We are talking about a few dozen people, whose task will be to integrate the Finnish defense system into the NATO system,” believes Pükonen. He also predicted that NATO membership could mean upgrading Finland’s roads, airports and ports to better serve the needs of the military.
Experts also point out that the Finnish military’s joint exercises with its NATO counterparts, which have already been held regularly, will now become the new norm. “If relations between the Alliance and Russia become strained, this will of course be reflected in an increase in the number of exercises,” predicts Pükonen. He believes that Finnish Lapland, already controlled by NATO, will become one of the most likely theaters for the maneuvers of NATO forces.
What about nuclear weapons? Pyukkonen claimed that “there is no logical basis for the deployment of nuclear weapons in Finland”. The general refers to the experience of fourteen countries that joined NATO after the collapse of the Soviet system – the Alliance did not put its nuclear weapons in them.
After Finland joined NATO, its border became the alliance’s eastern border. Again, this is expected to affect border control. “Generally, NATO does not influence the border control of its member countries in any way,” said Colonel Matti Pitkianiti, head of the Finnish Border Service’s international cooperation department.
The Finnish Forestry Administration says it has not yet received orders to change the regime for use of the border areas, for example for hunting. However, as Pitkianiti notes, “it is likely that a tourist or hunter who happens to be close to the border will encounter border guards more often.” Previously, the Finnish border guard received an additional 45 million euros over two years – as explained, ” due to the changed security situation”. This will lead to an increase in the number of employees.
Hints for the future
And how does Finland view the statements of the Russian leadership, which promises not to ignore the fact of its entry into the alliance? Earlier, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu warned that the expansion of the Alliance with Finland and Sweden “will require a review of approaches to the defense of Russian territory.”
Recently, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Peskov, also spoke on this topic. “The Kremlin believes that this is another worsening of the situation. The expansion of NATO is an attack on our security and national interests. And, naturally, this forces us to take countermeasures to ensure our own security,” said Peskov.
In Helsinki, however, they pretend not to attach much importance to these words. This is the view of Joakim Paasikivi, lecturer in the Department of Strategy at the Swedish National Defense University. He emphasizes: “There is a big difference between what the Russians say they will do and what they can actually do. Their ground forces in the Arctic and nearby areas are greatly weakened and their bases are empty.”
Former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves believes that Finland, by joining the North Atlantic Alliance, has helped squeeze Russia – which, from Ilves’ point of view, is definitely a good thing. “If you look strategically, now two NATO countries control the sea gates to St. Petersburg. Of course, now we have free navigation there in international waters and so on, but if a serious conflict arises, then the strategic possibility to close the Gulf of Finland with the forces of two NATO countries is very valuable. The Baltic Sea cannot yet be called a “NATO lake”. But with the future accession of Sweden to NATO, it will actually become so – with all the possibilities of its use for the goals and tasks of NATO,” the ex-president of Estonia rejoices.
The land border between Finland and Russia is more than 1300 km. Moreover, it is precisely in the areas bordering Finland that the strategic bases of the Russian intercontinental ballistic missiles and the bases of the Northern Fleet are concentrated. In addition, the supply of these bases is carried out by one railway line and one highway branching off just north of Ladoga – giving the Alliance forces the theoretical ability to cut this supply line anywhere for five thousand kilometers.
Translation: V. Sergeev
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