Finland is carrying out one of Europe's largest civil defence exercises since World War II, with more than 2,000 people in the central city of Kuopio rehearsing how to respond to missile strikes, cyberattacks and disruptions to critical infrastructure amid heightened security concerns over Russia.
The two-day exercise, known as Shelter 2026, is taking place from September 2 to 3 at an underground sports and events centre in Kuopio that can be converted into a civil defence shelter for about 7,000 people, AP reported. Authorities, students, volunteers, businesses and other organisations are taking part.
The scenario involves a deteriorating security situation in which critical infrastructure has been disrupted and the threat of military force has increased. Participants are practicing how to move large numbers of people into shelters and how authorities and other organisations would coordinate if normal services were disrupted.
Inside the shelter, Finnish conscripts are practicing radiation monitoring and other emergency procedures. Hundreds of participants are also sleeping overnight in the facility to test how it could function during a prolonged emergency.
The exercise is not being held in response to an immediate threat. Finnish authorities describe it as a planned preparedness exercise aimed at testing decision-making, communications, situational awareness and cooperation during a crisis.
But the scale of the exercise reflects the way Finland has changed its security planning since the Russia-Ukraine war.
Finland's border with Russia stretches more than 1,300 kilometres from the Baltic Sea up to the Arctic Circle. In 2024, along with Sweden, Finland joined NATO, following the Russia-Ukraine war.
Russian aircraft have entered Finnish airspace
Finland's concern about Russia is not purely theoretical.
Drones have entered its airspace this year, although at least one was identified as Ukrainian, while Finnish authorities linked the incidents to the war in Ukraine.
Russia has also tested Finland's airspace.
On August 20, Finland said it suspected a Russian military aircraft had entered Finnish airspace over the Gulf of Finland. The Finnish Border Guard later identified the aircraft as an IL-20 reconnaissance plane and said it had remained inside Finnish airspace for about three minutes.
Finland had reported another suspected violation by a Russian military aircraft in May.
Sweden is also increasing its military presence in Finland, with jets and a naval vessel due to support surveillance and protection of Finnish territory through the end of 2026 as regional security concerns grow.
Sweden will deploy its Gripen jets and a corvette warship to Finland to support the surveillance and protection of Finnish territory through the end of 2026, according to Finland's defence forces.
Swedish Defence Minister Pal Jonson stated that Sweden might assist Finland in repelling any territorial violations.
Finland fought several wars with the Soviet Union
In its wars with the Soviet Union, Finland lost around 11 percent of its territory, and more than 400,000 people, around 12 percent of the population, fled their homes from an area that is now in western Russia.
At Kuopio's veterans’ museum, Risto Moonkkoonen, 95, showed AP a piece of paper on which he had written down the dates the city was bombed and who died.
“I cannot forget it,” he said explaining how, as a child, he and his father ran into a shelter just as a bomb hit, killing five of his father’s friends.
Pirkko Naukkarinen, 102, recalled how, aged 16, she worked in a field kitchen by the front lines, sometimes sharing dugouts with soldiers and diving for cover in ditches as the Soviet air force attacked the retreating Finnish army.
Aili Toivanen, 92, told AP she was forced to leave her home twice over the various wars. Both times, her family was told by Finnish soldiers that they had one hour to pack their belongings.
