Stubb, speaking to Latvia’s LTV after a two-day visit that included a stop at the navy base in Liepaja, said Russia is “testing us through information warfare, drones, sabotage, in the air, at sea, and sometimes even on land.”
With Finland sharing NATO’s longest eastern border with Russia—over 1,300 km—he urged allies to stay “calm, composed and restrained.”
He praised the alliance’s response to the incidents, noting that Poland’s request to trigger Article 4 led to allied consultations—only the eighth such case since 1949—and the launch of the Eastern Guard mission to bolster Poland’s air defenses and begin work on a “drone wall.”
“The response was clear and very resolute,” he said.
Rejecting reports that Helsinki’s trust in NATO weakened after Donald Trump became U.S. president, Stubb called that claim “fake news.” He said he has seen no sign of a U.S. pullback from Article 5 and highlighted close transatlantic, bilateral and institutional ties, adding that, under Trump, NATO states adopted a commitment to lift defense spending from 2% to 5% of GDP.
“We are witnessing NATO 3.0,” he said, concluding that the alliance’s obligations, capabilities and operational planning have advanced far beyond the 1990s. In 2023, Finland joined the alliance after decades of neutrality.
(jh)
Source: PAP