Finnish commitment to defending their sovereignty from an imperialistic Russia has long been part of the Finnish psyche, and intrinsic to how the state is run. Since Putin's revanchist mindset materialised in the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Helsinki has moved to accelerate plans for defense.
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00:00Finland is accelerating preparation for all potential conflicts, nuclear, hybrid war or
00:09even a full-scale invasion.
00:11It has a 1,300-kilometer border with Russia, although this has been closed for over a year
00:15after Russia sent over 1,000 migrants there to destabilize the country.
00:20Since then, Finland has been dealing with other warfare, such as the tampering of undersea
00:25cables, disinformation and the presence of so-called Russian shadow oil fleets, which
00:30illegally transport Russian oil, contravening Western sanctions.
00:35The Finnish border guard has been always an organization, a readiness organization, which
00:41has built its capabilities to operate in a situation like today.
00:48But of course, it is also true that, for example, the phenomenon of shadow fleet, phenomenon
00:53of GPS disturbance and illegal immigration in the eastern borders are something that
00:59we have seen only in last years.
01:01We have seen, let's say, cable cuts, cable breakdown points, which are under criminal
01:08investigation.
01:09As I mentioned before, we also see a threat for an environmental accident in the Gulf
01:14of Finland, and one part of this is GPS disturbance, which can be seen especially in the eastern
01:22parts of the Gulf of Finland.
01:24Conscripts, which have long been part of Finland's overall security policy, are now training
01:29with the possibility that they could be defending the whole of Europe since the country joined
01:33NATO.
01:35Finland has been preparing for any war for several decades.
01:38The invasion by Russia in 1939 is something that Finns are constantly reminded of, and
01:43the key principle of this comprehensive security and defense strategy is deterrence.
01:49To deter any potential invader, in particular Russia, that this country is prepared, its
01:54society as a whole and military are well trained.
01:58It's not aimed only towards Finland or the neighboring countries, but Russia is trying
02:04to destabilize the whole of Europe.
02:07So the whole Europe has to take this hybrid war seriously.
02:12Because Russia cannot pressure us by threatening in the way of conventional war, because we
02:20are all members of NATO, the hybrid war is the mean they use to threaten us.
02:26Helsinki says it's now open to new EU defense spending, including defense bonds.
02:31The government says investing in European security fits in with the country's overall
02:35security strategy.
02:36Shona Murray, Euronews, Helsinki.
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