Russia’s attack on Ukraine has changed Finland’s security policy calculations. After the end of the Cold War, two principles were essential for Finnish foreign and security policy: maintaining good relations with Russia on the one hand, and a strong national defence capability on the other hand. The country wanted to be prepared for all eventualities with regard to its eastern neighbour. Already since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, Finland has increasingly strengthened various formats of defence cooperation: bilaterally in ever closer cooperation with Sweden and the US, trilaterally with Norway and Sweden, and by further developing the Nordic defence cooperation. Finland and Sweden are already NATO Enhanced Opportunity Partners. Both countries have a high level of interoperability with NATO structures, which would enable almost immediate operational readiness upon accession.
Historic U-turn in the NATO question
Ever since Finland’s EU accession in 1995, the possibility of NATO membership has also been discussed. Until February 2022 popular support had stagnated at around 20 per cent. Only two parties in the Finnish parliament supported membership: the National Coalition Party and the Swedish People’s Party (the party of the …read more
Source:: German Institute for International and Security Affairs