Finland and Russia Continue to Cut Diplomatic Ties

The Finnish general consulate in St. Petersburg is forced to cease operations and 9 diplomats are to be expelled from the country.

Finland and Russia have been engaging in a sort of diplomatic back-and-forth ever since Finland’s accession to NATO. On October 1st of this year, all operations of the Finnish general consulate are ordered to cease by the Russian Foreign Ministry and 9 diplomats will be expelled from the country. The response is an obvious and equal retaliation to Finland’s expulsion of 9 Russian diplomats from the Russian embassy in Helsinki last month.

Russia from the start has been opposed to Finland’s accession to NATO as it contradicts the promises made at the end of the Cold War. The breakdown of diplomatic relations between the two countries is clearly a global security threat as Finland’s 1,300 kilometer border with Russia is the longest of any European country. Because Finland is now a NATO member-state, any military conflict on that border would trigger Article 5, launching the world into a new World War.

In conclusion, Russia and Finland need to find a way to deescalate tensions in a way that honors both sides' perspectives and protects the global security of the entire region. However, Finland’s necessary subservience to the interests of the United States via NATO makes this altogether unlikely, as Finland is no longer a truly independent state. The potential for a new World War is at an all-time high. Diplomatic compromise is the only allowable solution, however unlikely it may be.

NATO would do well to remember that compromise is not only necessary to secure peace but must also be based on principles of justice and equality, rather than the ideologies of those bent on domination.

-The Shultz Report by M. Shultz