FINLANDIZATION AS A HISTORICAL AND POLITICAL EXPERIENCE AND CHALLENGE FOR UKRAINE
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17721/1728-2640.2024.159.5
Keywords:
Russian-Ukrainian war, Finlandization, national security, information war, Finland, UkraineAbstract
Background. The concept of Finlandization was formed in the geopolitical realities of the second half of the 20th century, which determined the specific balance of both foreign and domestic policy of Finland in the context of the Cold War. Refusal to join military alliances, which primarily concerned NATO, recognition of territorial concessions, as well as restrictions on foreign policy initiatives in exchange for relative internal stability, were the main conditions that the USSR put forward to Finland after the end of World War II.
Methods. A number of general scientific methods were used in the research process: comparative-historical, structural-functional, systemic and prognostic.
Results. As a result of the "Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance" imposed by the USSR on Finland in 1948, the country, although it retained a democratic system and a capitalist economic model, was forced to accept new "rules" of coexistence with its eastern neighbor. It is worth noting that the USSR did not limit its policy of influence to Finland's neutral status; until 1991, Finland's economy was forcibly oriented towards Soviet orders, which in turn prevented the country from fully developing closer economic relations with the West. After the collapse of the USSR, Finland lost its political neutrality by becoming a member of the EU in 1995, and the decisive end of military neutrality was its accession to NATO in 2023, as a direct consequence of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Conclusions. Although Finlandization with Finland's accession to NATO has lost its classical basis of forced neutrality, the realities of the Russian-Ukrainian war and the geopolitical aspects of today require a clear awareness of the danger that the aggressor country Russia is trying to impose on Ukraine. The scale of hostilities and the realities of the Russian-Ukrainian war in world geopolitical processes as of 2024 is unique, but Russia's position regarding the neutral status of Ukraine and the rejection of the occupied territories remains unchanged, which, together with a massive information campaign aimed at Ukrainian society and Western power circles, creates new challenges for Ukraine.
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