Authors

Discussion

On 24 February 2022 Russia initiated a full-fledged invasion of Ukraine. 17 May 2022 Finland applied for NATO membership, which was followed by the official invitation on 5 July 2022, and a full membership on 4 April 2023. This decision has become a milestone in the Finnish foreign and security policy after decades of a policy known as Finlandization. That policy elaborated after the Winter War of 1939-1940 meant substantial limitation of Helsinki’s autonomy in elaborating and implementing foreign and security policymaking. And it totally excluded full membership in the Alliance, unless the situation would fundamentally change. According to the numerous statements of the Finnish officials, the brutal violation of the international order, including the UN Charter, has become the reason to take such a decision. Additional factors that conditioned the decision relate to the geostrategic position of Finland that shares a common border with Russia of 1,340 km, and dramatic historical experience.

So, how did Russia respond to Finland’s NATO membership at the official level? The article utilizes a strategic narrative approach that allows to analyze how Moscow constructs, projects and sustains its narrative about Finland, their current and future relations, and how the change in the policy towards Helsinki has been built into a bigger picture of relations with the West and NATO after 2022. This methodology allows to demonstrate how this narrative has been elaborated, circulated and extended while being confronted with a changed security and defense policy within Finland, and broader in Europe. The paper analyses the Russian official strategic narrative, presented by the President of Russia, and the Russian officials, but also by some prominent figures as Alexander Dugin, whose ideas have largely underpinned official Russian discourse and official foreign and security policy towards the West. The paper investigates channels the narrative has been delivered to the domestic and international (particularly to the Finnish) audiences. The paper presents three major components of the Russian narrative towards Finland that have been expanded since 2022. Summarizing, for the last three years the Russian Federation has elaborated a strategic narrative towards Finland and its accession to the Alliance, gradually increasing the tone of statements, which are followed by practical measures. The expansion of the narrative should be expected, as its incorporation to a bigger narrative of confrontation with Europe and NATO.