Its 1,300-km border with Russia sharpens security concerns
A series of drones linked to Ukrainian operations that either crossed into Finland or crashed on its territory has exposed unexpected vulnerabilities in one of Europe’s most security-conscious countries.
The incidents triggered shelter alerts, criticism of official communications and fresh questions about Finland’s preparedness, as lawmakers push for a major increase in defence spending while Russia wages war against Ukraine and reinforces its military presence near Finland’s border.
“Everybody who has been following Ukraine’s tactics can see they have become increasingly successful with long-range strikes into Russia. And it was clear that sooner or later there would be some spillover,” says Minna Ålander, a Finnish analyst at the Stockholm Centre for Eastern European Studies.
“I am also not surprised about the reaction. The first reflex is to keep the incidents under cover, because Finland has such a secretive strategic culture that they’d think it would do more damage to talk about it openly.”
