Germany's neighbors have been preparing for what is happening in Ukraine for years.

They have ordered billions worth of weapons, fighter jets and tanks, reinstated conscription, reformed the armed forces and prepared their societies for war.

Three countries stand out in particular: Sweden and Finland in Northern Europe and Estonia in the Baltic States.

At least since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014, they have relied on the concept of "total defence".

Morten Freidel

Editor in the politics of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper

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First of all, this means that they are upgrading, and massively so.

Sweden wants to spend almost nine billion euros on its military in 2025, three billion more than at the moment.

The country plans to put thirty thousand additional soldiers into service.

It has units stationed on the island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea, plans to buy a new submarine, and is modernizing its fighter jets.

In 2017, it reintroduced universal conscription.

The situation is similar in Finland.

At the end of last year, it ordered 64 American F-35 fighter jets, one of the largest orders in the country's history.

Finland would thus exceed the goals of NATO if it were a member.

The country has been putting more professional soldiers into service for years, and it has never abolished conscription.

The Finns have also reformed their armed forces.

In addition to the operational troops, which are particularly well equipped and can be deployed, they strengthen their local units.

These are soldiers who are stationed all over the country and who are usually from the area.

Should Finland be attacked, they form the backbone of the army.

They should use their local knowledge to defend waterworks, power plants and bridges and thus buy the country time.

The operational units are then relocated to where the fighting is particularly difficult.

Estonia has also maintained conscription and strengthened national defences.

Everyone must help to defend

But "Total Defense" is about much more than soldiers, weapons and money.

Not only should the armed forces defend the country in the event of a conflict, but society as a whole.

Everyone should help where they can.

All countries cite the most important reason for this without beating about the bush: the threat posed by Russia.

Finnish Brigadier General Sami Nurmi tells FAS: “We border on Russia.

We don't have to explain to our citizens why it's important to defend their country."

Estonia is in the Baltic region, which Vladimir Putin is blatantly threatening.

There one fears for a long time to be next.

The Russian threat is ruthlessly analyzed in strategy papers: the Kremlin thinks in zones of influence, modernizes its military and lets its soldiers gain combat experience wherever possible, for example in Syria.

He is stationing more and more troops on his western border.

He is willing to use force of arms to achieve his goals.

The Russian leadership is careful to keep conflicts below the threshold of war for as long as possible.

False information is spread, soldiers without national insignia deployed.

It's difficult to react to that, and the concept of "total defence" should help with that.

"In today's world, we need to be able to operate in the gray area," says General Nurmi.

“War and peace, that's easy to understand.

When there is war, the armed forces take control and have the support of the population.” But if there is no war and there are still threats, everyone has to work together, “authorities, the whole of society”.