Thomas Grove of The Wall Street Journal reports that from Russian military districts to cyberattacks, Finland is facing new threats from its neighbor; it’s ‘the new normal in living with Russia.’ Grove writes:
Finland—Armed Finnish border guards on cross-country skis patrol the country’s eastern flank, NATO’s newest and longest border with its main adversary, Russia. Helicopters and drones buzz overhead along new fences being constructed—13-feet high in places—with barbed wire on top and 24-hour electronic surveillance.
The new measures are meant to protect Finland from increasingly aggressive Russian operations. Those have included waves of migrants, which Helsinki says have been sent by Moscow to overwhelm the country’s remote borders in recent months. […]
Standing at Finland’s most eastern point, which juts into Russia, Teuvo Maksimainen, 76, says he has seen the region slowly lose its population and businesses as a result of the border closing. But he said it is a price Finns must pay.
“There’s no choice anymore, this is the Russia we live with,” he said.
Read more here.