Prime minister Sanna Marinin (sd.) In the afternoon, the government will submit a topical report to Parliament on the change in the security environment.
The report is a 30-page report that contains a description of the change in the security policy environment and the options that Finland has in this new situation.
Director of the Political Science College of the University of Helsinki Tuomas Forsberg estimates that the new report will differ from the old security policy assessments in two respects: the report will remove the emphasis on co-operation with Russia and the NATO option.
Forsberg assesses the situation on TV in in the morning and on radio in Ykkösaamu.
Cooperation with Russia refers to the importance of co-operation and dialogue with Russia in all circumstances. The mention will be removed from the security report now, according to Forsberg, because with the war of aggression launched by Russia in Ukraine in the West, it has been seen that dialogue with Russia will lead nowhere. The bottom of the cooperation has fallen out.
Secondly, the report needs to be updated with regard to the NATO option, as NATO option policy has come to an end. Forsberg estimates that it is no longer relevant to maintain the option to join NATO in the current security situation, as security policy considerations have swung to the point of whether or not to go to NATO.
However, according to Forsberg, the biggest change in the security environment with regard to the NATO option has not taken place behind the eastern border, but in Finland, where attitudes towards NATO have become more sympathetic. Russia’s operations, on the other hand, became more aggressive already during the conquest of Crimea in 2014, he sees.
Forsberg points out that, with regard to cooperation with Russia and the NATO option, the security policy report will be broadly in line with the previous one, the report completed in 2020as the previous report was made after the occupation of Crimea in 2014, when Russia began a war in Ukraine.
No surprises are expected from the report
Forsberg does not expect the report to reveal any very new or completely surprising security policy information that is not already known in Finland.
The report does not make a direct presentation on applying for NATO membership.
Forsberg emphasizes that updating the safety report is a long-term planning, not just a response to an acute crisis. The report weighs up the facts on the basis of which the NATO issue should be weighed and provides a broad picture of the situation affecting Finland’s security policy.
– It mostly sets out the facts on which the decision to join NATO is based for or against. There is as little speculation as possible in the report.
The report is due to be completed this afternoon. We will be following the publication of the government report in this article starting at 1:45 p.m.
Read more:
Government unveils security situation for NATO debate – how to prepare for Russia’s threat, watch live from 1:45 p.m.
Finland seeks new security – in a report published today, the pros and cons of NATO membership