MIXED BLESSING

Joining NATO assures Finland’s security, but also increases threat perceptions from Russia

- ANITA PRATAP

Most adult Finns know the number 1,340. That in kilometres is the length of Finland’s border with Russia. Geography invariably produces some horrible histories. Finland is no exception, having lived through Russian war, invasion and bombing in the 20th century. Nevertheless, post-Cold War, Finland and Sweden preferred military non-alignment to joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the western military alliance—until Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. Says Finnish diplomat Teemu Tanner, “The invasion changed opinion remarkably quickly. There was almost a national consensus to join NATO.” On April 4, Finland joined NATO, becoming its 31st member.

The Ukraine invasion was Putin’s plan to stop an expanding NATO in its tracks. It was counterproductive. The invasion further expanded, strengthened and unified NATO in ways not seen for a quarter of a century. Both Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO, making the world’s most powerful military alliance even more powerful. Says former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt, “Their inclusion will transform European security. It will deter Russian aggression.”

Finland knows what that looks like. It spent a century inside the Russian empire before gaining independence in 1917. During World War II, Joseph Stalin grabbed Finland’s territory, including its second-biggest city Vyborg. Finland lost its foreign policy autonomy under the Cold War, was forced into a Friendship and Cooperation Treaty with the Soviet Union, endured restrictions on its armed forces and lived with a Soviet military base near its capital, Helsinki. The Soviet Union’s collapse enabled Finland to pursue a fully independent foreign policy and together with Sweden join the European Union in 1995.