0 sats \ 5 replies \ @kristapsk OP 20 Feb \ parent \ on: Finland to open 300 shooting ranges to boost interest in national defence news
Why? Because people will maybe more often go to shooting ranges? In Finland since forever everybody needs to go to army and learn to shoot (even if you are NHL star).
Reason why most likely Russia will not attack, they theoretically have 1 million reserve army with 5 million total popullation.
The reason why Russia will not likely attack is because Russia has absolutely no interest in attacking Finland
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Quoting from yr own source :
“They (the West) took Finland and dragged it into NATO! Why, did we have any disputes with Finland? All disputes, including those of a territorial nature in the middle of the 20th Century, have all been resolved long ago,” Putin said in an interview published on Sunday.
“There were no problems, but now there will be, because we will now create the Leningrad military district there and definitely concentrate military units there,” Putin added in the interview by Russian state broadcaster Russia 1.
Finland has for decades enjoyed a mutually beneficial relationship with Russia and prospered greatly from it. By now joining NATO and inviting US forces onto its territory to establish bases it has forced Russia to take defensive actions. The disruption of friendly relations and the military provocation & escalation have all been (extremely foolishly) initiated by Finland.
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forced Russia to take defensive actions.
You think Finland wants to get back territories occupied by Russia since 1945 or that Putin thinks it will? Finland would have never joined NATO if there would not be Russia's full scale invasion in Ukraine. Same as Sweden.
And, btw, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finlandization, relations between Soviet Union and Finland wasn't completely fair and equal.
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Russia is taking defensive actions, not because it thinks Finland wants to take territory from Russia, but because Finland has invited the U.S. to set up bases right on Russia's borders, and very close to one of its major cities, Saint Petersburg.
How do you think the U.S.A. would react if Canada or Mexico joined a military alliance with Russia and invited Russia to set up bases along its borders ?
And I'm aware of 'Finlandization'. That was still a beneficial relationship for Finland (back when Finland still had diplomatic skill & wisdom) but of course I note that you are conflating the Soviet Union with Russia. We are talking about Russia, not the defunct Soviet Union. Finland has enjoyed friendly relations for decades (since 1991) with Russia, without any 'Finlandization'.