As the Russian threat looms, firearms and defense training are increasing in Finland

KERAVA, Finland (AP) – Undeterred by Russia’s expansion and emboldened by its recent entry into NATO, Finland is rallying to strengthen its national defense beyond its traditional military capabilities.

The popularity of martial arts training in the Nordic country has increased in recent months. Few places tell the story of the growing Finnish affinity for defense more than the best shooting ranges.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order for an all-out Russian invasion of Ukraine – Russia’s other big neighbor – in February 2022 continues to reverberate in the minds of many Finns, and partly explains the obsession with football.

The Vantaa Reservist Association, which operates a rifle range in a former sex toy factory in Kerava, north of Helsinki, has more than doubled its membership in the past two years and now has more than 2,100 members.

“They have something in their head that worries them that this is a skill I have to learn now,” said the association’s chairman Antti Kettunen, standing in the middle of a pile of letters. “I think the wind has changed, now it’s blowing from the east.”

Earlier this year, the federal government announced plans to open more than 300 new grades — a big jump from the 670 in operation today.

Authorities are encouraging citizens to take an interest in defense in the country that shares a 1,340-kilometer (830-mile) border with Russia, where shooting ice hockey has become more of a hobby than shooting bullets.

“The interest in national defense is traditionally very high in Finland and especially these days with the Russian aggression in Ukraine, the interest has increased significantly,” lawyer Jukka Kopra, who chairs Finland’s defense committee, told the AP in early December.

Spurred largely by concerns over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Finland became the 31st member of the NATO military alliance last year. Western neighbor Sweden followed suit in March. The two countries last month announced plans to improve their civil defense strategies, without mentioning Russia by name.

The proliferation of defensive techniques is not limited to shooting ranges.

The National Defense Training Association says it has held a total of 120,000 training days this year, more than double the number of three years ago.

The national reservists’ organization, which is about 90% made up of military reservists but also includes some hobbyists, has grown by more than two-thirds to more than 50,000 members since the invasion of Ukraine.

And unlike other European countries, Finland has retained about 50,000 Cold War-era public shelters, which can house about 85 percent of its 5.5 million people.

“This is a new era for civil protection shelters, against the new developments of war,” said Tomi Rask, of Helsinki Rescue Services, during a visit to another shelter in the capital. “We know that all our neighbors have the power to harm us, to harm our citizens, and we think we should prepare ourselves.”

Dressed in camouflage on the Kerava range, paramilitaries and gun enthusiasts pounded their way through the barricade, sometimes opening fire with muzzle-loading Glock rifles against human-shaped targets.

“Some people do this just for fun,” said member Miikka Kallio, a 38-year-old firefighter. “Some (do it) maybe because of our neighbor to the east: I heard comments that they joined the reservists because of the Russian invasion (of Ukraine.)”

Finland is no stranger to conflicts with Russia and much of the country’s identity was established fighting its eastern neighbor – gaining independence from the Russian Empire in 1917 and fending off a large Soviet army and its small, unarmed army. known as the Winter War at the beginning of the Second World War.

Kettunen said learning to shoot is like learning to swim: Both require training and preparation.

“If you need to know how to shoot or swim, and you don’t, it’s too late,” he said.