A century after gaining independence from its powerful neighbour Russia, Finland continues to consolidate its ties to the West, as tensions flare between Moscow and the US
No to NATO
Like Sweden, Denmark, Poland and the Baltic states, Finland has modernised its military in recent years and has stepped up initiatives tying itself closer to NATO—but has stopped short of joining the alliance. And Finland’s political rhetoric remains cautious when it comes to Russia, its fifth biggest trading partner
Fighting a great eastern neighbour
Finland belonged to Sweden for six centuries—until 1809—and was then a Russian Grand Duchy until 1917, only gaining its independence at the end of WWI after the fall of the Tsarist Russian empire. The Soviet Union recognised Finland’s independence in 1918, but the Nordic country had to fight off its great eastern neighbour during the winter of 1939-1940, and again from June 1941 to September 1944 to avoid being occupied by the Communists, according to AFP
The 1947 Treaty of Paris recognised Finland’s defeat at the end of WWII, and it had to pay substantial war reparations to the USSR and permanently cede 10 per cent of its territory, the eastern part of Karelia
‘Finlandization’
Careful not to wake up the Russian bear, Finnish leaders publicly stayed on good terms with Russia and refrained from expressing any open criticism during the Cold War, a process that coined the term “Finlandization”. But the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 changed everything. Remaining militarily non-aligned, Finland rapidly joined the EU in 1995, swapping its currency, the markka, for the euro in 2002
Meanwhile in Moscow, officials note that Russia has been closely associated with Finland’s centenary celebrations which will be formally marked on December 6, its Independence Day