Finland: The Ally Who Came in from the Cold

With its few million inhabitants, Finland has thus established a culture of total defense that is rare in Europe, combining concern for food and energy self-sufficiency, the protection of the population, and the preservation of the conscription model to enable the country to defend itself.

Formalized in 2023, Finland's accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has profoundly transformed Finnish strategy, which is now part of a broader European alliance facing Russia. While the links between Helsinki and the Atlantic Alliance are in fact older, accession remained a major political taboo, with neutrality long perceived as a guarantee of peace. Finland can therefore now integrate into a larger military structure while maintaining a regional dynamic revitalized since 2022 through the Nordic Defence Cooperation (NORDEFCO).

From a military perspective, the Finnish armed forces were adapted from the outset to face a conflict with the Soviet, and later Russian, neighbor. The land forces are therefore structured around an extensive conscription model that makes the defense of the territory a matter for every citizen. More austere than most European forces, they seek to rely on their knowledge of the harsh Finnish environment to sustain an elastic defense if Russia attacks. For its part, the Finnish navy possesses limited means but retains rare naval mining capabilities to deny the adversary access to its coasts or even to isolate it at the end of the Gulf of Karelia. Moreover, modernizing the fleet and acquiring larger vessels could open new tactical opportunities. Finally, the Finnish air force relies on a logic of dispersal of its assets to guarantee its survival, a logic that could be called into question by the acquisition of F-35 fighter-bombers, which are far more complex to operate from improvised infrastructure.

Long-standing relations between Paris and Helsinki have intensified since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine and France’s pivot to the East. This dynamic still needs to be confirmed over time, but it opens new prospects for the French armed forces. The multiplication of joint exercises across the different domains is, in this respect, an encouraging signal.