Anxious Finns are learning how to survive in the wild in preparation for an invasion by their hostile neighbour
t is Friday night on a forested military base in western Finland. A group of women dressed in camouflage with matching purple beanie hats are sat in a dark tent discussing how their perspectives have changed since Russia’s full-scale invasion ofwould attack us,” says Sari, 42, who works in sales and lives in a nearby town. But then, she adds: “They attacked Ukraine. I saw that it is possible that we are next.
Until a few hours ago, most of the women, the youngest of whom is 18 and the oldest 70, did not know each other. But on this sub-zero snowy night in Lohtaja, near the town of Kokkola, they have already set up camp under a tall canopy of pines by torchlight, made a wood fire in a burner at the centre of the big military tent and made a plan for where everybody is going to sleep.
Helsinki also accuses Russia of using proxies, including asylum seekers, to aggravate its neighbour; there have been suspicious break-ins at water treatment facilities and issues with GPS jamming. In the days after the invasion, the phone calls “just kept coming and coming and coming”, she says. The first question was often “what can I do?” And the second was “where can I learn how to shoot?” The third, she adds, was “how I can I find out about my bunker?” A recent inventory by the interior ministry found that Finland has 50,500 bunkers for its population of 5.6 million – part of the legacy of a Soviet Union attempt to invade the country during the second world war.
“It’s because of our history. It’s because of, obviously, our location. The neighbour isn’t very friendly, hasn’t been – even before . So we’re just very aware of the risks. A lot of countries let go of their conscription, Finland never did. So for us it’s common sense,” says Aksela. “The modus operandi of Russian intelligence services is more aggressive, it’s a more serious threat and they are using other means,” he said, including a threat to critical infrastructure and sabotage.
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