The NATO exercise Cold Response is taking place in Norway, and both Swedish and Finnish personnel are participating in the exercise, despite the fact that none of the countries are members of the defense alliance.
35,000 military and other personnel from 28 countries participate in the exercise, of which 1,600 from Sweden.
Several of the Finnish soldiers are part of the Swedish unit.
- For Finland, it is about building bilateral relations with Norway and practicing with Sweden, says Finnish journalist Liselott Lindström, who monitors the exercise on site, in the Morning Studio
An interview that the Financial Times did with Finnish President Sauli Niinistö attracted a lot of attention this weekend when Niinistö allegedly said that a Finnish NATO membership could make the security policy risks in Europe escalate further.
Afterwards, Niinistö tried to clarify, including on Twitter, that the newspaper had misinterpreted him.
"Multiple scenarios"
- What he said he meant was that there are several security scenarios on which Finland bases its decision on whether to join NATO or not.
One of them is that the security policy situation in Europe is escalating further, says Liselott Lindström.
Opinion in Finland has fluctuated and become much more positive towards NATO membership since Russia invaded Ukraine.
62 percent want Finland to apply to join the defense alliance.
- It swung in principle overnight and is due to the uncertainty that the invasion of Ukraine spread among the Finns.
The alternative to NATO would be an in-depth cooperation with Sweden and a bilateral defense agreement with the United States, says Liselott Persson.