Putin’s war is pushing Finland towards Nato

There is important precedent for a small, determined, patriotic army saving a nation from falling under the sway of Russia. And that precedent is the 105-day Winter War in 1939-40 between Finland and the Soviet Union, the precursor to Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

The courage of the Finns inflicted huge losses on their fearsome adversary, as the Ukrainian army is doing today. Helsinki eventually sacrificed 10% of Finland’s territory to the Soviets, in return for a peace that has endured since the end of World War Two.

To learn the lessons, I travelled to Finland for On Assignment in the days around the anniversary of the end of the Winter War on 13 March. I also wanted to know whether and how this Baltic nation – which shares an 830-mile border with Russia – is adapting to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

What struck me, in all my interviews, is how the Finns unlike British people  see their national independence as a precious but fragile right, that they do not in any sense take for granted.