Finland already defies Russia under the NATO flag

The enormous disproportion of power between Russia and Finland, which led the Nordic country to cede a third of its territory to its powerful neighbour first, and then to a long period of neutrality, has just been rebalanced. A status of neutrality that was not always desired and not always in accordance with the wishes of its inhabitants. Back in the 1970s, at the height of the Cold War, when first visiting the icy streets of Helsinki, local guides, having been duly alerted to the clearly Western affiliation of the guest, used to refer to the Russian Embassy building as "our Ministry of the Interior", an irony that described better than any other explanation the level of Soviet interference in Finnish politics. 

Since this week, the Finnish flag has flown at NATO headquarters in Brussels alongside those of the 30 other countries that make up the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation. In the words of President Sauli Niinistö, "the era of military non-alignment in our history has come to an end, a new era is beginning". Gestures and words that constitute a real liberation for the 5.5 million Finns, condemned for all these years to pretend, in the name of neutrality, a political equidistance that they did not feel at all. 

Russia's arrogance in believing itself to be the absolute master of the destiny of neighbouring peoples was made very clear in the statement by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, reacting to the Finnish flag-raising ceremony in Brussels: "This is an intrusion into our security and Russia's national interests". The Helsinki guides, therefore, were not far off the mark when they described the Russian embassy as "our Ministry of the Interior". 

In a lesson of exquisite democratic maturity, it did not even cross the minds of the country's political parties to use Finland's NATO membership as an electoral weapon against their opponents, given the strong support the initiative had amassed over the past year. Whoever forms the new government will have to work out the extent of Finland's participation in NATO, for example, whether or not it wants permanent bases on its territory, or whether it will settle for the occasional presence of joint support and combat units through manoeuvres, exercises or mission-specific operations. There will be work either way, as Finland provides more than half of NATO's 2,500-kilometre direct border with Russia.  

The decision will likely be made in accordance with the measures President Vladimir Putin is preparing to take to counter this diplomatic slap in the face. Whatever the Kremlin leader decides will have to take into account, however, that Finland is already under the umbrella of the famous article 5 of the Treaty, according to which all Alliance member states will come to the aid of any of its members attacked by a foreign power. 

What does seem clear when analysing Russia's behaviour, both with Ukraine and with other European and Asian countries it has had under its boot, is that it has set off the alarm bells. This is the only way to interpret the electoral slide towards more conservative positions of the electorates in the Nordic countries. In Finland itself, albeit by a narrow margin, the winner was the conservative National Coalition Party led by Petteri Orpo, whose main electoral slogan is an effective government. 

He will have to make a deal with Rikka Purra, head of the Finns' ticket, which in southern European latitudes is assimilated to the extreme right, although, like Italy's Giorgia Meloni, she unwaveringly supports helping Ukraine to defend itself, and consequently also sees NATO as her country's security and salvation from the methodical and systematic barbarism with which Russia is trying to take over a sovereign country like Ukraine. 

The political credit for NATO membership goes mostly and in any case to social democratic leader Sanna Marin, who was kind enough to concede defeat even before the polls closed. Her future may take her to the European Parliament or even to the European Commission, institutions that would be greatly strengthened by the firm convictions of this young woman from the best political vanguard, not only in Finland but also in Europe.