The Finnish government adopted a draft budget for the next year, which shows that arms spending in Finland will increase 15 times compared to this year. According to the document, from 2026 onwards, EUR 6 billion will be allocated to arms contracts, while this year the budget was only EUR 0.4 billion.
Finland is to prepare for war
The Finnish press underlines that the aim is no longer simply to keep the defence state, but to prepare the country for a possible Russian attack. Media in Finland indicates that "the threat is not theoretical but real".
According to the government's communication, with increased orders, armed forces, mostly land troops, will modernise equipment and replace aging systems.
In the spring of this year, Finland decided to increase defence spending to 3% of GDP, which is to be achieved by 2030. In addition, further increase in defence spending is planned to 3.5% of GDP by 2035, in line with the targets adopted by NATO.
According to the calculations of the Finland Finance Ministry, next year the budget deficit will be EUR 8.7 billion with planned expenditure of EUR 90.3 billion and revenues of EUR 81.6 billion.
Finns besides have a hard past of relations with Russia
Importantly, Finns – like Poles – realize what it means to be threatened by Russia. The people of this country remember peculiarly about the Finnish-Russian war. It was the alleged winter war and lasted from November 1939 to March 1940.
The conflict broke out erstwhile the russian Union demanded territorial concessions from Finland and Finland refused. Despite the advantage of the Red Finn Army, they successfully defended their country, utilizing hard winter conditions and partisan tactics.
As a consequence of the peace treaty, Finland lost part of Karelia, including Viipuri, but retained its independence. The conflict became a symbol of Finnish opposition and national determination.
