Finland’s NATO membership | Finland is an exception as a new NATO country: “Prepared for large-scale war”

Finland the defense is strengthened when the NATO application submitted last May is blessed after the Turkish parliament approved Finland’s membership as the last allied country.

The law passed by the Turkish parliament still requires a president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan the signature, after which the ratification document is sent to Washington and the Finnish flag rises on the flagpole of the NATO headquarters in Brussels.

At the same time, the union of the 30 old member states will be significantly strengthened. Finland, which has maintained its so-called NATO option for 28 years and has been preparing for a Russian attack for decades, is obviously a welcome partner for NATO.

Read more: The NATO option will be 27 years old in April, and its value will only increase, writes Unto Hämäläinen

“Finland is an exceptional new NATO member to the extent that it is constantly preparing for a large-scale war,” says the researcher Jyri Lavikainen From the Foreign Policy Institute. “NATO has had the same threat since 1945, but in the 1990s the alliance began to emphasize its role as a crisis management organization.”

“Finland’s defense capability has been systematically maintained all the time, and after the end of the Cold War and the restrictions at that time, exactly the weaponry that the war in Ukraine shows is necessary has been acquired,” Lavikainen continues. “Finland is really larger militarily.”

In Finland there are quite a few professional soldiers in service, but the wartime reserve of 260,000 soldiers is large by European standards. According to the latest announcement by the ground forces, the artillery has 1,690 cannons, rocket launchers or heavy mortars, which makes the artillery the largest in Western Europe.

The Air Force’s F-35 purchase increased Finland’s defense spending in the 2022 budget to 2.2 percent of gross domestic product, while the limit required by NATO is two percent.

Only seven of the current member countries can cross this limit. “It’s not just about a large reserve, a modern air force or strong artillery, but about the culture of warfare,” Lavikainen says. “We can equip our strong reserve and we have practiced it.”

However, Finland’s annual defense expenditure of five or six billion euros is about two-tenths of the combined defense expenditure of the member countries. The US defense budget for 2021 was a total of 811 billion dollars in 2021, or about 70 percent of the combined military budgets of the member countries of the military alliance, says NATO statistics.

Direct NATO expenses and membership fees do not tell much, because the alliance’s defense is based on the national armed forces of the member countries.

Finnish officers have repeated “NATO compatibility” in all possible procurements since the 1990s, but the efforts of the defense forces may not be decisive for NATO after all.

With Finland’s membership, NATO will get 1,344 kilometers of new border against Russia, including the sea border. NATO and Russia already have a total of 1,140 kilometers of common border, including the borders against Kaliningrad in Lithuania and Poland.

Is the lengthening of the border with Russia a good or bad thing for NATO?

“It depends a little on how you approach it,” Lavikainen says. “We have taken care of our own defense. And Russia has not built a proper military infrastructure on the border with Finland. On the road, you could see where it leads when the convoy moves along one of the forest roads.”

In January 1940, the 163rd division of the Soviet Union, which attacked Suomussalmi during the winter war, was supported by the 44th Ukrainian elite division, which was destroyed in the battles of the motte.

Ukrainian commander, born in Tver, northwest of Moscow Alexei Vinogradov a good dictator was executed for this Joseph Stalin by order on January 11, 1940 in Vasonvaara, Uhtua, about five kilometers east of the current border.

Russian there really aren’t that many troops behind the current border. In Kamenka, Uudenkirko’s Kaukjärvi, the 138th infantry brigade, which took part in the failed attempt to take over Kyiv in February of last year, is staying. The next base when going north can only be found in Alakurt at the height of Salla. Why so?

“I think it’s about prioritization and resources,” Lavikainen assesses. “They are thinking about the deployment of their armed forces as a whole, and even before the attack, the troops had been placed around Ukraine, in the Caucasus and south of St. Petersburg.”

“For example, there is almost nothing on the Chinese border, although the Russians hardly imagine anything and are certainly not blue-eyed. There are not endless resources.”

Defense forces however, efforts and taxpayer contributions to national defense are not everything.

“Finland is important to NATO just by its existence,” Lavikainen points out. “It is difficult for Russia to plan, for example, operations in the Baltics without taking into account what the Estonian ally is doing there in the north.”

“After Finland’s NATO membership, the defense of Northern Europe will be organized in a completely new way. With what kind, it’s probably still finding its shape. But there will certainly be things that have not been possible before.”

According to Lavikainen, the talks about Pohjola’s joint air force are a good example of new thinking. “Or, for example, the exercises of the North Kaloti land forces, where the Norwegians can move to the Finnish side and they can be looked after from Finland, when land borders are not important.”

Perfect Finland’s NATO luck will not come until Sweden is part of the military alliance. From NATO’s point of view, a unified Nordic region and control of the Baltic Sea are important, as is southern Sweden because of the Baltic defense. From Finland’s point of view, Sweden is an important partner just because of the service connections. Sweden’s strong arms industry, on the other hand, complements Finland’s strong reservist army well.

Otherwise, Sweden’s defense policy does not get a very high rating from Lavikainen.

“Their defense solutions have been completely flawed, above all the waiver of conscription in 2009, right after the war in Georgia. It was pure blindness!”

“Now they are rebuilding their defenses, but it will take years. It’s easier to break than to build.”

The partnership with Sweden is in any case vital for Finland.

“Getting Sweden to join NATO is Finland’s first task after NATO membership,” Lavikainen says.