On a sunny spring morning, few places can feel as peaceful as Lappeenranta, a small Finnish border town located on one of the largest lakes in Europe. Still, the scenic views are deceptive – for the city’s 70,000 residents, the mood has suddenly deteriorated.
“I’ve always felt very safe growing up here, but that has changed somewhat since the war,” said Nura Ikonen, a local barista. “I catch myself feeling anxious.”
The war she mentions is being fought nearly 1,000 miles away in Ukraine. But Finland shares an 830-mile land border with Russia, and Lapeenranta is just 19 miles from the border, closer to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s hometown of St. Petersburg than the Finnish capital, Helsinki.
“Naturally, the locals here are worried and anxious. We were all shocked when Russia invaded Ukraine. We were used to working and living with Russians, “longtime mayor Kimo Jarva said Wednesday from his office overlooking the frozen bay of Lake Saimaa.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, Lapeenranta embodied Finland’s pragmatic relations with Russia, which focused on developing business relations with Moscow, while successive Finnish leaders maintained a dialogue with Putin.
Järva estimates that 1.5 million Russians visit the city each year before the pandemic, earning millions of euros in revenue, with some shops serving them specifically. Lappeenranta has also set up its own office in St. Petersburg and is offered to Western tourists as a “gateway” to Russia.
“We have always been open to working with Russians. But everything changed after the war, “Järva said.
Very few cars are now boarding on the highway leading to the Finnish-Russian border, as the two countries have virtually banned all private and commercial traffic from entering each other’s territories.
After the fall of the Soviet Union, Lapeenranta embodied Finland’s pragmatic relations with Russia, which focused on the development of business relations. Photo: Zoonar GmbH / Alamy
“This city has now chosen a different path. There will be no going back, “Järva said.
This path could soon lead to the accession of Finland and neighboring Sweden to NATO’s military alliance, which would be a historic change in policy for the two northern European countries. The decision is considered critical, especially since Ukraine’s eventual future NATO membership was used as a key reason for Moscow’s invasion.
On Wednesday, the Finnish parliament began debating a government report outlining the consequences and risks of NATO membership, marking the symbolic start of a formal debate on a potential request to join the defense bloc.
Officials have already said they do not expect a long debate, with Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin saying last week that her country would decide whether to apply “fairly quickly, in weeks, not months”.
Ikonen, the barista, said she fully supports joining NATO and that her mood is reflected by others on the city’s streets.
Just five years ago, Ikonen’s support would have put her among the minority in Finland, with polls showing that only 21% of the population supports joining the alliance, a figure that has not fluctuated much over decades.
However, the invasion of Ukraine has led to a tectonic shift in public opinion towards the bloc, which could lead to the deployment of NATO forces on Russia’s vast northwestern border.
“Finland has decided that it wants to join NATO on February 24 at 5 am, when Russian forces entered Ukraine,” said former Finnish Prime Minister Alexander Stubb.
In polls conducted after the invasion, about 60% of Finns said they would prefer to apply to join NATO, a figure Stubb expects to rise in the coming weeks alone.
“If Russia is ready to kill its Slavic brothers in Ukraine, why not do the same with Finland?” Many Finns woke up and said, “Enough! “Now is the time to join NATO,” Stubb added.
As a longtime NATO defender, Stubb says it is only natural that the Finns have changed their position in response to Russia’s actions.
“Finns are very rational, pragmatic people. They correct their opinion with the change of circumstances. Now people have realized that Russia is an unpredictable and isolated aggressor.
However, the speed with which views are changing surprised even those who closely monitor Finnish politics.
“No one I know can think of anything like this in Finnish history, where public opinion has changed so quickly, so radically,” said Charlie Salonius-Pasternak, a security expert at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.
“We thought that the political elites would insist on NATO, but the opposite is true. The Finns themselves have chosen this path, “he said.
Experts say Finland’s current sentiment is rooted in its own war with Moscow, which has echoed the invasion of Ukraine. In 1939-40, a grueling winter war led to Finland ceding much of its territory to the Soviet Union, including the city of Vyborg, just a 30-minute train ride from Lappeenranta.
“Solidarity with Ukraine is enormous. We see a lot of comparisons between Ukraine and the Winter War in the media, in public debates, “said Arkady Moshes of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs.
According to Moshes, many Finns “instinctively turn to the stories” of the Winter War when they see Ukraine fighting a bigger, more powerful neighbor alone.
“Finns are not very open about their emotions, but what is happening in Ukraine has created sentiments that seem to have been kept inside for decades,” Moshes said.
A recent survey found that 84% of Finns now believe Russia poses a significant military threat.
“My generation has not survived any wars, but my parents and grandparents were forced to flee the west during the war with the Soviets,” said Heli Puki, owner of an art shop in Lappeenranta.
“This is the first time in my life that I have started thinking about my safety.” Heli Puki in Lapeenranta. Photo: Pjotr Sauer / The Guardian
“But we were brought up with their experience, we carried them in our hearts.”
Puki said he did not hate the Russians and would always welcome them in his shop, but the war in Ukraine changed something overnight.
“This is the first time in my life that I have started thinking about my safety, about my peaceful life here. We have always known that we have this great country on our border, but now it feels like something is really boiling there, the country is not moving in the right direction. “Nobody knows what will happen next,” she said.
Russia has warned Finland and Sweden not to join NATO, saying the move would destabilize Europe.
Last week, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev posed the strongest threat to the country so far, warning that Russia would have to strengthen its land, naval and air forces in the Baltic Sea if Finland and Sweden join NATO. Medvedev also raised the nuclear threat, warning that it could no longer speak of a “nuclear-free” Baltic – where Russia has its own Kaliningrad exclave between Poland and Lithuania.
But while locals expressed some concern about Russia’s possible reactions to the country’s plans to join NATO, Finnish experts and officials called for calm, saying their country was ready for any aggression.
“The nuclear threat is nothing new,” Stubb said, citing reports that Russia already has nuclear weapons in Kaliningrad.
“We expect more Russian cyber attacks and airspace violations. But we have been preparing for this for a long time, “he said.
Stubb and other analysts have ruled out the possibility of Russia being able to threaten Finland militarily in the near future.
“Russia cannot fight on two fronts and they will face one of the most complex military in the world. As always, we stay calm, cool and collected. We know what we are doing, “said the former prime minister.
Finland has maintained strong defense spending over the last 30 years, while the rest of Europe has largely made cuts. The Scandinavian country is also one of the few European countries that has retained military service, and almost a third of its adult population are reservists.
The mayor of Lapeenranta, Järva, also said he did not expect military threats to come from Moscow, adding that the border “has never been quieter”.
However, he said his city had thoroughly inspected all its bomb shelters shortly after the Russian invasion began.
“It simply came to our notice then. The war just makes us a little more motivated to do it. “
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