Finland has one of the strongest artillery in Europe, there is a reserve of cruise missiles with a range of up to 370 km. At the same time, 2% of GDP goes to defense, which is higher than in many NATO countries.
Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Armed Forces Timo Kivinen said that the country is ready for a Russian attack, and the locals are determined to repulse the enemy. This is reported by Sky News.
“The main line of defense runs between our ears, as evidenced by the ongoing war in Ukraine,” General Timo Kivinen said.
The Scandinavian country has a sufficient arsenal of weapons. In the 1940s, Finland had to participate in two wars against its northern neighbor. The length of the border line between the Russian Federation and Finland is 1300 km, due to fears that Russia might launch a military invasion, Finland applied to join NATO.
At the end of World War II, Finland formed its armed forces. According to some estimates, the size of the Finnish army is about 280 thousand people and another 870 thousand trained reservists.
Finland did not abolish compulsory military service for men, which many Western countries did after the Cold War. Finland also has one of the strongest artillery in Europe, it has a stock of cruise missiles with a range of up to 370 km.
Finnish bomb shelters
2% of Finnish GDP goes to defense, higher than many NATO countries.
Finland has long been preparing for a potential invasion – in addition to the formation of the army, fortified bomb shelters were built in the cities to protect the civilian population. For example, a typical old Finnish pool can be drained of all water within a day – and it will turn into a bomb shelter with a capacity of up to 4000 inhabitants.
In such complexes there is an air filtration system, which can protect against chemical, biological and radiological elements. The corridors in the shelters are winding – for greater protection from the blast wave.
Soviet-Finnish War
During the 105 days of the “winter war”, the losses of the USSR in killed amounted to approximately 127 thousand people, another 246 thousand were injured, shell-shocked, as well as severe and moderate frostbite. The Finnish side lost about 26 thousand soldiers, 43.5 thousand were wounded.
