Putin, Finland, and NATO in Far North in 2024–2025
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18485/fb_ijcss.2025.1.2.14Keywords:
Vladimir Putin, Finland, Russia, NATO, DCA, Discourse analysisAbstract
In May 2022, Finland applied for NATO, and in late 2022, launched talks on bilateral defence cooperation with the US. The country joined the alliance in April 2023; eight months later, Helsinki and Washington D.C. signed DCA. From the first days of Finland’s NATO process, Moscow anticipated the outcome: according to President Putin, the alliance is not a threat but its role as a camouflage of the US interests. In this article, I employ a mitigation- and legitimization-oriented discourse analysis to probe Putin’s Finland-related utterances from January 2024 to August 2025. Through the stratagems Putin utilizes in his public appearances, I differentiate Moscow’s standpoints on NATO’s enlargement in Far North and Finland’s position as of today. Putin does not consider Finland as a risk, despite its substantial military power. Rather, the country was insnared in NATO. First, these explanations are targeted to domestic spectators, to moderate the paradox of now having NATO next to the Russian Arctic. Second, Putin deems Finland’s membership as “absolutely senseless”; combining storytelling and history, he insists “ideal relations” reigned between Moscow and Helsinki. Above all, militarization of the Arctic – Russia’s core nuclear base and its key source of critical minerals and raw materials – legitimizes Moscow’s equal measures in Far North. The number of Russian soldiers rise to 70 to 100 thousand, and their readiness is enhanced. On Putin’s words, these steps are aimed at no one, as history testifies. Quite the opposite, it is Russia to uphold the fragile balance in the Arctic region.
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