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Juanjo Galan
Helsinki, Jan 21 (EFE).- Former Finnish Foreign Minister and presidential candidate Pekka Haavisto believes it is unlikely that the Kremlin will follow through on its threats and launch a military offensive against Finland in the future, although just in case he warns Moscow that “we are prepared for all kinds of evils coming from Russia”.
“There is always the possibility that Russian aggression against Ukraine could spread and become a conflict between Russia and NATO, but I would say that it is not very likely,” he says in an interview with EFE.
Haavisto, one of the candidates with the best chance of winning the presidential election on January 28, played a key role in Finland’s entry into NATO last year as foreign minister, breaking with decades of military neutrality.
This historic step, caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, has increased the security of the Nordic country against neighboring Russia, although at the same time it has increased tensions and threats from the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
“Of course, with NATO we are in a much safer situation, because even Russia knows that violating the Finnish border would mean activating NATO’s entire defense,” he says.
However, it acknowledges with concern that a series of incidents have occurred increasingly close to Finland since the start of the Ukrainian war.
Among them, he mentions the explosion of the Nordstream gas pipeline, the mysterious breakage of the Balticconnector gas pipeline that links Finland and Estonia and the breakdown of the underwater telecommunications cable that crosses the Gulf of Finland, in addition to several cyber attacks.
Haavisto insists that his country is not at war with Russia nor does it have “any conflict with Russian culture, language or citizens” and admits that we Finns “need to control our emotions a little in this type of situation.”
“Yes, President Putin and his regime are doing very dirty things, but Russia will remain our neighbor in the future and we hope the best for ordinary Russians, because they are suffering too,” he says.
Since last November 30, Finland has closed the 1,340 kilometers of its border with Russia – the longest in the European Union (EU) – to prevent Moscow from using the massive crossing of refugees as a weapon of destabilization, as Belarus did with Poland in 2021.
Haavisto supports this decision of the current Government because, in his opinion, the arrival of refugees through Russia is part of an “unacceptable hybrid operation” that endangers the security of his country.
“Russia is playing with us, we must stop it. Of course, the border will remain closed as long as necessary,” he says.
If he wins the presidential elections, Haavisto is in favor of respecting the decision of the European Union (EU) not to interact at a high level with Russia while it continues its attack against Ukraine.
In this sense, he criticizes the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, for ignoring this decision and maintaining a direct political dialogue with Putin, something that – in Haavisto’s opinion – “is out of place in these circumstances.”
Regarding aid to Ukraine, he assures that Finland has welcomed some 50,000 refugees from that country and has sent packages with military equipment almost monthly, assistance that will continue in the future because it has the majority support of public opinion.
“The only problem that is limiting some of these donations,” he clarifies, “is that we have to take care of our own defense and calculate that we have enough material.”
Finland feels special solidarity towards Ukraine, according to Haavisto, because the Nordic country suffered a similar invasion by the Soviet Union in 1939, a conflict that led to two consecutive wars and the defeat of Finnish troops before a much more powerful army.
“Our task as Europeans is to support Ukraine as much as we can so that, when eventual negotiations begin, Ukraine is in the strongest possible position, and that depends on us,” he says. EFE
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