With the Russia-Ukraine war threatening to spill over into a situation where NATO is directly involved, reserve forces in Russia’s neighboring country Finland are bleeding members. The departure from the force follows a newspaper interview in which the country’s defense minister said he intended to ban reservists from resigning.
Talk to Finns every day Curonmar In an interview published last Thursday, Finland’s Minister of Defense Antti Häkkanen (of the Liberal-Conservative Union Party) said that during the spring “we will look for ways to bring the situation under control” and that there is no need to “run away” any further. He said that he intends to make sure that this is not possible. Spares. Häkkanen said leaving the reserve force was an “unpatriotic” act.
The next day, despite Hakkanen’s attempts to soften his tone, more than 200 people (15 times the average number) applied to leave the Reserve and enroll in auxiliary positions (i.e., support personnel supporting the military).
Reservists who resign and apply for auxiliary military service must be able to prove that their “beliefs have changed to the point that they cannot participate in military activities.”
Those whose applications are approved will be exempt from military service in emergency situations (such as the outbreak of war), but they must perform military service “under exceptional circumstances.”
The options are becoming increasingly attractive. On Tuesday, the total number of reservists who applied for retirement in February alone reached a whopping 791.
Petri Åkermann, president of the Reichian Reservist Association, thinks Häkkanen’s proposal is understandable.
he said Curonmar All those who served in the military took the oath of allegiance, promising to defend the homeland not only in wartime, but also in peacetime. In his view, this is sufficient reason to invoke a legal ban.
Åkerman points out that after World War II, Finland’s defense depended largely on conscription, which was then automatically transferred to the military reserve. Without a way to prevent them from leaving the reserve, that training will be in vain, he added. “This is a huge resource at Finland’s disposal and what makes it most unique,” he added.
Civil Service Secretary Mikko Lajonen places the blame for the decline in the number of Finnish reservists squarely at Mr. Häkkanen’s feet.
He gave a more precise breakdown on Monday, with 67 reservists applying for service in the auxiliary units on Thursday (when Häkkanen made the statement), 293 on Friday, 116 on Saturday and Sunday. He said there were 130 people.
Reijonen added that there were 225 such requests in the entire month of January. About 1,650 people left the reserve last year. This means that on the first day of February, well over a third of the total number of applications was filed last year.
In a tabloid interview Iltaleti, Rayonen said similar numbers were last observed when Russia sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022.
Another surge, with 400 reservists applying, came last year when Finland broke its long-standing policy of military neutrality and joined NATO, thereby doubling the land border between NATO countries and Russia to 2,600 kilometers. It happened in April.
“I would like to say that we are not prepared to prevent people from leaving protected areas,” Hakkanen elaborated on his statement on his blog on Tuesday, February 6.
Hakkanen said the country had “900,000 Finns with military training” in reserve, adding that the duty to defend the country “is the foundation of society as a whole, on which other rights are built.” “It will be destroyed,” he said. he added:
numbers [leaving] This is still a small number compared to the 900,000-strong reserve force, and this does not destabilize Finland’s defenses. However, behind this is the tendency for a wave of diaspora to begin due to the deterioration of the security situation. Dangerous times will continue, and Russia will be unpredictable. The question itself is worth debating – is resignation from wartime national defense duties merely a matter of notification?
Hakkanen said his previous statements were “not the most successful” but said his message was the same as that issued by the Finnish Defense Forces.
Those who apply for supplementary services now have a legal right to it. However, this right should be considered to ensure that your ability to protect yourself in real-life situations is not at risk.