‘Do Not Tease the Bear’, 1949–55

Abstract

Norwegian and Danish membership in NATO had direct repercussions on Finland’s strategic position. In addition to bringing the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation to Finland’s northern border, the participation of these Nordic states in NATO resulted in increasing Soviet concern over the security of her north-western border. The new situation put Finland in an awkward position. On the one hand Norwegian membership in NATO required Finland to improve its defence posture against the modernist threat scenario of Finnish territory or airspace being used for an attack against one of Finland’s neighbours. On the other hand, the Soviet Union regarded any military build-up in Finland as a hostile act linked to aggressive Western designs concerning the entire Nordic area. This Soviet attitude was expressed, for example, in countless newspaper articles in which the Soviet press was anxious to find any evidence of Finland moving closer to the ‘aggressive’ Atlantic Alliance and its covert organisation in the north, the Nordic Council. Despite the propagandistic nature of these articles they appeared to stem from a genuine concern that the West might attempt to turn all of Fenno-Scandia into a potentially aggressive military outpost for NATO.