‘If we wish for peace, we have to prepare for war’, says Finnish MP for Arctic Circle

But this year in Lapland, the hometown of Santa Claus, NATO held its largest ever artillery exercise. Finland joined NATO in 2023 in direct response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 

Preparations for such an invasion were accelerated after Crimea, the Donbass and the Russian interference at Maidan. 

“There are thousands and thousands of people around the world coming to meet Santa Claus,” Heikki Autto said, adding: “I can see the bright eyes of the children how happy they are when they meet Santa. And at the same time, we have thousands of military personnel from all over Europe and also North America coming for the exercise to build a peaceful future.” 

Finland has a border with Russia 1380km long – the largest in all of NATO territory. 

For the last two years Russia and China have stepped up hybrid war attacks including sabotaging undersea communication cables, disinformation, and the instrumentalisation of refugees sent to the Russian Finnish border by the Kremlin. 

“Finland has been long prepared for these kinds of attacks,” Autto said. 

 “At the moment, there is one Chinese vessel that is seized by military vessels on the coast of Denmark because they tried to and they cut some cables also.” 

Helsinki believes that all measures should be on the table when it comes to Ukrainian defense. And that Europe needs to seize the assets of the Russian state from European banks to pay for Ukraine. 

“It cannot be the way that Russians can come and kill and rape, destroy homes and schools and hospitals, and then they wouldn’t have to pay for what they have done,” he said, adding: “The European Union and the West needs to find the legal framework to use the frozen Russian assets to pay for Ukraine.” 

Autto agreed there’s an openness for the government to support common borrowing to pay for major investment in European defense – a major shift in thinking from Heksinki. He said while they haven’t yet backed any particular plans, they are also not closing the door to any idea, given the nature of the threat. 

“Finland has not closed any option to aid Ukraine because we have to give the message to the front lines that we do all the necessary means to support Ukraine,” he told Europe Conversation.