Major Jyrki Raitasalo says to Helsingin Sanomat that “our credibility has improved with respect to others”. At the same time however, he admits that the main reason for that is the fact that the country’s neighbors have less capacity, in relative terms, than they did before.
Mr. Raitasalo, who is currently working as researcher at the Department of Strategy of the National Defence University, confirms that Finland eventually will have to strengthen defence cooperation with other countries, either within the frames of NATO, the EU or the Nordic countries. The reason for that is primarily economical – the rapidly increasing costs for operating modern army structures make it hard for small countries to stay alone.
Finland today has one of Europe’s strongest armed forces, with a modern air force and navy, as well 350,000 army reservists.
Northern Europe is one of the most peaceful corners of the world, and neighbor relations remain very good. Still, politicians and officials from all the Nordic countries have lately expressed increasing unease with the security situation in the region. In Sweden, both Liberal Party leader Jan Bjørklund and former defence minister Björn von Sydow have called for enhanced focus on domestic security following a more extrovert Russian position. Also in Norway, several politicians, among them from the Progress Party, have called for domestic military modernization as a response to Russia.
A similar debate is unfolding in Finland. However, as highlighted by Mr. Raitasalo Russia does not pose a threat to the Nordic countries. He underlines that Russian military capacity is only a shadow of the power of the Soviet Union and that the strength of the Russian Army in areas near Finland is a tenth of what it was.
A joint Nordic defence report to be presented in early February this year is likely to propose enhanced Nordic military cooperation. The editor of the report is Thorvald Stoltenberg, the former Norwegian foreign minister and founding father of the Barents Cooperation.
