Finland Ready To Fight Russia In Case Of Its Attack - Finnish Chief Of Defence

Finland has prepared for decades for a Russian attack and would put up stiff resistance should one occur, Finnish Chief of Defence, Defence Commander, General Timo Kivinen said. Reuters reported this on Wednesday, June 22.

According to the General, the crucial factor is the readiness and motivation of the Finns to fight for their country.

"We have systematically developed our military defence precisely for this type of warfare that is being waged there (in Ukraine), with a massive use of firepower, armoured forces and also airforces. Ukraine has been a tough bite to chew (for Russia) and so would be Finland," Kivinen said.

After World War II, Helsinki maintains a high level of military readiness, and only after the Russian invasion of Ukraine did the country decide to apply to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The nation of 5.5 million people has a military strength of about 280,000 people, of which 870,000 were trained as reservists, Reuters points out.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, on May 16, Finnish President and Prime Minister Sauli Niinisto announced that his country was applying to join NATO.

On May 18, Finland and Sweden officially applied for NATO membership.

At the same time, on June 9, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his country would not allow Sweden and Finland to join NATO, "while terrorists are present in their parliaments."