The attempts of Finnish authorities to enhance the country’s military reserve brought opposite results. Finnish reservists began resigning from military service after they knew they could have to fight against Russia. The Finnish youth are ready to support Ukraine ‘at a moral level’ but they fear the prospects of direct military confrontation with Russian forces.
This all started back on February 2 when Head of Civilian Service Centre Mikko Reijonen reported that only in two previous days 150 persons had applied to resign from the military reserve. The Finns not wishing to be reservists any longer asked for transfers to civilian service roles with no weapon-bearing obligations.
After the transfer to civilian service, it will not be possible to engage them in military operations. It was quite a number for today, given that only 255 had been filed for the whole January.
Just for reference, Finland has universal conscription. At the age of 18 around 80 per cent of young males join military service. Those who cannot bear weapons due to their convictions are offered alternative service positions: hospitals, rescue workers, etc. Those refusing from both service options face jail.
Conscripts serve for up to 12 months. When the service ends, they are rostered to the military reserve. Finnish authorities are proud of their military reserve system: thanks to this system, the country of 5.5 m people and a 20 thousand service manpower, in theory, can deploy 900 thousand troops on the battlefield. Today, it turns out some Finns do not wish to be part of the combat reserve.
It did not take long to find the reason for this exodus among reservists. Just lately, the Finnish Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen has announced he intends to amend the law, making voluntary resignations from the reservist roster as hard as possible.
The Minister believes that leaving the reserve is ‘an unpatriotic move weakening our defence capability’. Häkkänen underlines that if the Suomi keep leaving the reserve, ‘our Eastern neighbour can take it as if the Finns are seriously frightened’.
And these were his words, not Russia, which frightened many conscripts across the country. Even Chairman of the Finnish Reservists’ Association Kari Salminen underlined that he does not support the full withdrawal ban. He thinks delisting should always be possible, for example due to health issues or the change of personal convictions.
A wave of resignations
On February 5, the Finnish media reported for the public that conscripts kept on resigning massively. According to Head of Civilian Service Centre Mikko Reijonen, in just three days about 630 conscripts submitted their withdrawal applications. Reijonen linked the growing fleeing rates with PM Häkkänen’s remarks on banning resignations. On February 8, the Finnish media reported that since the beginning of the month over a thousand conscripts had expressed their wish to leave the reserve, and the attrition is ongoing.
The authorities hurried to respond. Defence Minister Häkkänen recanted his words on avoiding the fleeing of reservists. He posted in his blog that ‘his statement was not the most successful’ and that it was misunderstood. At the same time, Häkkänen underlined that ‘Finland’s national defence has been largely debated, which is good. Russia represents a military threat for the European states and we all in NATO must strengthen our own defence’. The Minister added that ‘we will need to put huge efforts’ to streamline ‘the defence architecture’.
The Minister was even pathetic underscoring that reservists are the basis of this ‘architecture’. ‘The national defence obligation enshrined in the Constitution is considered the overall base of the society serving as the platform for other rights’, Häkkänen insists. He warned that the Defence Ministry is working to lift the age limit for reservists and intends to ‘enable more people to do military service’. At the same time, pathetic words do not always help and the Minister admits this. He reminds that today’s exodus is not the first one.
For the first time, Suomi started to speak about the war with Russia not now at all, but back in 2014 right after the reunification of Russia and Crimea. At that moment, about a thousand reservists preferred to resign regardless of the discontent of the prime minister at the time. ‘In 2022, the full-scale Russia’s invasion in Ukraine caused a new wave of resignations from the reserve: almost 4,000 Finns transferred from military service to civilian roles. There are not quite many of them compared to the total 900 thousand in the reserve and this will not influence Finland’s defence. Yet, against this backdrop, we can expect a wave of resignations when the security situation gets worse’, states Häkkänen with concern.
Inflicted panic
What is driving the Finns who are leaving the reserve now? Helsingin Sanomat talked to a young man Keijo Katainen who explained the reason why he does not want to be part of the reservist roster. The 21-year-old Katainen began his military service early in 2022. The young man recalls that he did not have any concerns at first, but everything changed after February 24 with the start of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine.
‘We in the brigade started to think: wait a minute, the war can arrive right here and we will have to go to the front. This thought kept bogging me until the end of my service’.
‘I tried to avoid ‘the real’ military training because the thought about it concerned me’, he says. According to Katainen, he tracks the atmosphere in the Finnish society and he was very much concerned they were trying to impose militarist sentiments on Finns. He says ‘he supports Ukraine at a moral level’ but he is absolutely against fighting. He had applied to resign from the military reserve just before Finland joined NATO. He is sure he ‘took the right decision and never regretted it’.
Maybe other reservists could say something similar. And convincing and calling for ‘duty’ will not work for these people – others are accusing former reservists of breaking the oath.
Living inside the Finnish information space, one has all the reasons to get frightened. Last December Finland and USA signed a military cooperation agreement – Washington needed it beyond the standard commitments Helsinki took joining NATO. What does this document mean? It gives the Americans free access to Finnish military bases, transport corridors and infrastructure facilities.
Lately, the first presidential tour has taken place in Finland, the debates featured the discussion of possible deployment of foreign weapons in Suomi.
‘The Finns, certainly, do not remember that when their country was swiftly dragged into NATO they were told with a straight face that having nukes in its territory was out of the question’, writes Alexander Kommari, a commentator living in Finland. And Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen states that Finland needs as much weapons as possible – not only to supply Ukraine, but also to ensure its own security. So, according to him, the state needs to fill up its arsenals, buy weapons, tanks and much more.
The Minister calls to remember the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940 – he believes Finland can get into a military conflict with the Eastern neighbour once again. The Finnish press publishes articles with such titles as ‘If an air strike hits Helsinki, where would you look for shelter?’ Major industrial enterprises in Finland are drafting the lists of critical employees who are not subject to a call-up in case of full mobilization. Well then, is it really surprising to see panic mood has been spreading among reservists?