More than 3,000 Finnish soldiers, along with hundreds of American, British, Estonian and Latvian soldiers, participated in a comprehensive military maneuver that began on Wednesday and will last for two weeks, and precede Finland’s preparations to apply to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), following growing fears of possible repercussions of the invasion. Russian for Ukraine.
The military exercises are a prelude to what might be a major geopolitical shift.The Wall Street JournalHelsinki will apply to join the US-led coalition, amid rising tensions with Russia over Ukraine.
And the ongoing exercises in the pine forests of Finland illustrate the compatibility of Finnish forces with their NATO counterparts.
The exercises involve developing rapid response robotic units and familiarizing Finnish forces with NATO systems, with more than 100 American soldiers and 15 Stryker armored vehicles participating.
Finland can muster a standing army of 280,000 soldiers in days, and has a total of 900,000 reserve soldiers, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The exercises provide versatile support to develop the capabilities of the Finnish Army, the competency and skills of service, reserve and enlisted personnel at the individual and unit levels, according to the official website of the “Finnish Army”.Finnish army“.
Last April, three NATO warships arrived at the port of Turku in southwestern Finland for training with the Finnish navy.
The Finnish Defense Forces said in a statement that the two-day exercises, scheduled to begin on April 28 and include warships from Latvia, Estonia and the Netherlands, will prepare the Finnish ships for participation in NATO’s response forces in 2022 and focus on “mine action and multilateral action.” nationalities”.
Despite being a close partner of NATO, Helsinki has for decades stayed out of the alliance in part to avoid provoking Moscow, as Finland shares a 1,300 km land border with Russia.
Finland is one of the few countries that managed to confront the former Soviet Union, when Soviet forces were forced to withdraw during the Winter War (also known as the First Soviet-Finnish War) in November 1939.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Finnish public and political opinion shifted in favor of the country’s membership in NATO, a move that NATO countries also welcome.
According to the site “Defense NewsThere is widespread support within NATO for Finland’s membership.
Finland has a large and well-trained ground and air force that can unilaterally defend itself for days, if not weeks, something few NATO members can do.
According to Defense News, Finland has decades of experience in monitoring Russian activities along its 1,340 km border with Moscow.
Last Tuesday, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said, “No one can assume that Russia will not attack other countries,” adding that Germany would support Finland and Sweden if they decided to join NATO.
The Wall Street Journal quoted Elisabeth Brau, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, as saying that Finnish membership would be an “incredible asset” to NATO as well.
After Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Finland is modernizing its air force, announcing in February that it had completed the purchase of 64 F-35 fighter jets, to replace its aging fleet of Hornets.
The deal is estimated to be worth regarding $8.8 billion, and that deal might help Finland defend the airspace over the Baltic Sea, if it joined NATO.
During the month of April, Finland raised its defense budget by 700 million euros, to more than 2 billion euros, to meet the NATO target of spending 2 percent of GDP on defence.
Finland is expected to apply for NATO membership in mid-May; At regarding the same time with Sweden.
Sweden and its neighbor Finland remained outside NATO during the Cold War, but Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea and its invasion of Ukraine prompted the two countries to rethink their security policies, with the prospect of NATO membership increasing.
The two countries worry that they will be at risk during the membership application process, which can take up to a year to be approved by all members of the alliance.
