Russian aggression driving Helsinki towards NATO membership

Such a move would be a seismic shift in Finland, a country that has prided itself in being a bridge between East and West.

Pekka Haavisto at NATO headquarters in Brussels last month. Picture: AFP

There is a deep hush over this border between East and West, and not only because of the once-in-a-century snowfall blanketing its forests. The Russian units along the Finnish frontier began thinning out in December as they were redeployed south to the border with Ukraine in a military build-up that, if the worst happens, could ignite the largest conflict in Europe since World War II.

Nuijamaa became a border town only when the Soviet Union seized a swath of Finnish territory in 1939-40 in a war that defined the sparsely populated country’s dealings with its giant neighbour from then on. Now Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine is stirring a debate in Finland over whether it is finally time for the country to come down from its non-aligned fence and join NATO, achieving just the kind of expansion of the Western military alliance that Moscow proclaims it wants to halt.

Last week, Russia sent a letter demanding Finland clarify its security intentions, a note sent to every member of the OECD in ­Europe but with particular resonance for this neighbour in the High North.

“It reminded me of the Cold War,” said Pekka Haavisto, Finland’s Foreign Minister. Then Finland was accustomed to this kind of Russian letter asking for “consultations”, shorthand for the bullying of its neighbour and former imperial asset.

The letter led Mr Haavisto and his Defence Minister to consult their Swedish counterparts. Both countries recently sent delegations to NATO headquarters in Brussels, where the alliance’s secretary-­general affirmed their right to join. “NATO’s door remains open,” Jens Stoltenberg said. “Sweden and Finland are our closest partners.”

Kai Sauer, Finland’s under­secretary of state for foreign and security affairs and a former ambassador to the UN, senses a paradox, given that NATO membership has never enjoyed majority public support. “Russia has pushed Finnish and Swedish public opinion closer to NATO,” he said.

Such a move would be a seismic shift in Finland’s sense of identity. The country has long prided itself on being a bridge between East and West, and playing the peacemaker. President Sauli Niinisto has been nicknamed the “Putin whisperer” for his agility in engaging his Russian counterpart.

Being a small country on the Soviet border forged the Finnish posture of “trying to completely conceal yourself, blend in with the wallpaper and be nice to everybody”, said a defence official, who chose to remain anonymous, but with Russia a declining and vengeful superpower, neutrality may no longer be an option.

“We have no rosy illusions about Russia’s future,” he said. “I think it’s a society in shambles. They are on their way down. But the bad thing here is that we have a recollection from our memories that when Russia is doing badly, it’s bad news for us who are on the border. On their way down, they can cause lots of trouble.”

The Times