Friday, 29 Mar 2024

Prospect of Russia using nuclear arms in Ukraine fuels Finland’s Nato debate

Prospect of Russia using nuclear arms in Ukraine fuels Finland’s Nato debate


Prospect of Russia using nuclear arms in Ukraine fuels Finland’s Nato debate

The prospect of Russia using nuclear weapons in Ukraine is a key factor behind Finland's debate over whether to join Nato, the country's foreign minister has said.

Pekka Haavisto is having a busy few weeks. As Finland's foreign minister, Haavisto, 64, may soon oversee the biggest political shift the country has experienced since it joined the EU almost three decades ago. "Finland is currently making its choices. And among those choices, Nato membership is one," Haavisto told the Guardian in an interview on Thursday.

Yesterday, the Finnish parliament started its much-anticipated debate over the possibility of submitting a membership bid to Nato. Recent polls have shown a dramatic U-turn in public opinion in Finland, with the majority now favouring joining Nato after the invasion of Ukraine.

"Our security environment has dramatically changed after Russia's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February," the veteran Green party politician said.

Haavisto proceeded to list the conclusions Finland has drawn about its big neighbour that have led to the political debates in his country. Moscow has shown its willingness to take increasing risks in its military operations and demonstrated its ability to quickly mobilise more than 100,000 soldiers against a neighbouring country without conducting a general mobilisation.

"Russia's behaviour is more unpredictable, and it is ready to take higher risks than earlier. If we look at Georgia in 2008 or Crimea in 2014, we could say that in those cases, Russia took calculated risks," the minister said, referring to the war in Georgia and the annexation of Crimea.

"What is different now is that we see that Russia's original purpose when attacking Ukraine was to change the regime in a country of 40 million people. This is a high-risk operation for Russia, but Russia showed it was ready to take those risks."

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