The country is building up its combat potential for NATO membership in order to be ready for a possible Russian attack.
Finland spends near the Russian border unprecedented military exercises . They involve more than 3,000 Finnish soldiers and a large contingent of NATO soldiers. The exercises are being conducted under the command of the Alliance and with the participation of the United States, Britain, Estonia and Latvia, according to the Wall Street Journal.
countries to NATO. There was also a “muscle game” – Russian military planes began to regularly violate the airspace of the Finns and missile technology was thrown to the border.
Details of military exercises are not disclosed. According to American media reports, more than 3,000 Finnish soldiers and soldiers from the United States, Britain, Estonia and Latvia are taking part in the two-week Arrow 22 exercise. The Finnish army has about 300,000 troops and 900,000 reservists. . It is considered one of the strongest in Europe, and Helsinki can start the process of joining NATO in a few weeks.
As a NATO member, Finland will receive the security guarantees provided for in Article 5 of the NATO Charter. It will only take some time between the application and the membership itself. And it is this moment that worries the Finnish government. Because Russia may well take advantage of this “window” and attack its neighbor.
Therefore, Finland is increasing its combat potential without waiting for NATO membership. She won the annual and world's most complex cyber attack repulsion simulation organized by the NATO Cyber Security Center. The purchase of 64 Lockheed Martin F-35 fighters has been announced to strengthen the airworthiness of the Finns.
Helsinki, which had been neutral for decades, immediately sided with Kyiv in the Ukrainian war. Despite the traditional policy of “not providing weapons to combat zones”, since the beginning of the war Finland has provided Ukraine with thousands of anti-tank weapons, food rations, ammunition – and this is a historic step, said Prime Minister Sanna Marin.
Read also: Putin's strategic miscalculation: Sweden and Finland to join NATO soon
Earlier, it was reported that Finland and Sweden's accession to NATO would increase stability in the Baltic Sea .
