Finnish Navy to Hold Joint Drill With NATO in Baltic Sea

Though planned in advance, the drill rather serendipitously coincides with a heated NATO debate in Finland, which may lead to the Nordic country abandoning its historic non-alignment.

This week, Finland will hold joint drills with NATO's immediate reaction force known as Standing Mine Countermeasures Group (SNMCMG1) in the Baltic Sea.

The joint Passing Exercise (PASSEX) will focus on mine countermeasures as well as seamanship, the Finnish Navy said in a press release, and will aim to train participants to work in a multinational environment. The main focus of the exercise is on underwater activities.

The drill, in which six NATO vessels will train with the Finnish Navy, will be held in the Archipelago Sea, which is part of the Baltic Sea surrounded by the Gulf of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland and the Sea of Åland, within Finnish territorial waters, on 28 and 29 April, and will be led by Finland's Coast Fleet.

Before that, NATO's reaction force will visit the port of Turku. Three ships from the SNMCMG1 had already arrived at Turku on Monday: the flagship LVNS Virsaitis from Latvia, the EML Sakala from Estonia and the HNLMS Schiedam from the Netherlands.

The Finnish participants will include the Coastal Fleet's Katanpää-class mine hunters the Purunpää and the Vahterpää and the 4th Mine Countermeasures Squadron Staff.

The Coastal Fleet's Chief of Staff, Commander Mikko Villikari, described PASSEX as a routine exercise planned a year in advance.

“The main goal of the exercise is to search for and identify underwater objects,” Villikari said, stressing the importance of international drills for the Finnish Navy. “In these exercises, we learn to work as part of a group that we do not often interact with. It helps to maintain international expertise,” he added.

Though it's been on the cards for the past year. the drill coincides with the country's renewed push to join NATO, widely supported by voters and politicians alike. Commenting on the issue, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto went so far as to say that Finland should not delay applying for NATO membership, as it may become harder to join in the future.

According to Haavisto, the conflict in Ukraine forced Helsinki to reassess its security policy. On Monday 25 April, the Finnish newspaper Iltalehti reported that Finland and Sweden are synchronising their application to NATO and preparing to submit them between 16 and 20 May.

Last week, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned Sweden and Finland about the consequences of joining NATO, stressing that they would not only turn themselves into “a new frontier of NATO's confrontation with Russia” but also “renounce part of their sovereignty”.

On 24 February, Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine after the breakaway republics of Donetsk and Lugansk appealed for help in defending themselves against increasing Ukrainian shelling and provocations. In response, the EU rolled out a slew of sanctions against Moscow, including airspace closures and numerous restrictive measures targeting Russian officials and entities, media and financial institutions, as well as spheres of the economy ranging from energy and tech to consumer goods.