HS: Finns are increasingly worried about Russian actions toward Finland

A GROWING NUMBER of Finns would like to dispatch western land forces to Ukraine, reveals a survey conducted for Helsingin Sanomat by Verian. Four in ten of the survey respondents stated that they consider it important to dispatch western land forces

By: helsinkitimes.fi

Jan 07 2025
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HS: Finns are increasingly wor

A GROWING NUMBER of Finns would like to dispatch western land forces to Ukraine, reveals a survey conducted for Helsingin Sanomat by Verian.

Four in ten of the survey respondents stated that they consider it important to dispatch western land forces to help the country to defend itself against the war of aggression prosecuted by Russia – a proportion that represents an increase of eight percentage points from the previous edition of the survey conducted in June 2024.

The presence of western land troops was regarded as important particularly by senior managerial employees (59%), men (53%) and 31–39-year-olds (51%).

Supporters of the National Coalition, Finns Party and Green League were predominantly supportive of the idea of western land forces in Ukraine. The idea was backed also by 46 per cent of supporters of the Left Alliance, 40 per cent of supporters of the Centre and 34 per cent of supporters of the Social Democrats.

The often floated idea is most commonly dismissed on grounds of the risk of escalation. The share of survey respondents who rejected the idea on such grounds, though, has decreased by 11 points to 39 per cent, according to the survey commissioned by Helsingin Sanomat.

Finns, the survey also shows, are increasingly eager to welcome Ukraine into the European Union. The share of respondents who said they hope the country will soon join the 27-country bloc has risen by six points to 58 per cent in the past six months.

Support for Ukraine’s membership aspirations has increased regardless of its financial implications for the EU and Finland, with 40 per cent of respondents – an up-tick of three points from last summer – considering an imminent accession important even if it shook up the common agricultural policy and led to an increase in the net membership fees of Finland. The share of respondents who did not consider the accession important contrastively fell by two points to 31 per cent.

Half of respondents viewed that the right approach to the war instigated by Russia is to support Ukraine until the withdrawal of Russia, even if it means the war will last longer. Fewer than four in ten, or 38 per cent, of respondents favoured the other option of encouraging the sides to end the war through negotiation even if it left Russia in control of parts of Ukraine.

The question was posed to the respondents for the first time.

YouGov in December published the results of a survey that gauged support for the two options in Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the UK. Half of Swedes, it found, would prefer to support Ukraine until the withdrawal of Russia – a view that was shared by fewer than half of respondents in each of the six other countries, including 40 per cent in Denmark and only 15 per cent in Italy.

A negotiated end to the conflict, even if parts of Ukraine were left to Russia, was the preference of 55 per cent in Italy, 46 per cent in Spain, 45 per cent in Germany and 43 per cent in France. In Sweden, the share came in at 24 per cent – lower than in Finland, according to the survey by Helsingin Sanomat.

Helsingin Sanomat’s survey found no significant change in public views about financial and military support for Ukraine. The share of respondents who considered the current level of support as sufficient fell by 1.4 points to 58.6 per cent in the past roughly six months, while almost a quarter voiced their support for increasing and one-tenth for decreasing the support.

The respondents were also asked to reveal whether they are more or less concerned about the actions of Russia toward Finland than in February 2022, the month when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Concerns about Russia’s actions have risen by 15 points to 58 per cent since last June, according to the survey by Helsingin Sanomat.

Sakari Nurmela, the research director at Verian, stated to the newspaper that it is possible to say that up to roughly 2.5 million Finns are more concerned about Russia’s actions today than in February 2022.

The concerns have increased by 19 points to 55 per cent among men and by 10 points to 60 per cent among women.

The survey was conducted after Finnish authorities intercepted Eagle S, an oil tanker that is part of the so-called shadow fleet of Russia, on the Baltic Sea on suspicion of damaging Estlink 2, a mostly submarine transmission link between Finland and Estonia.

Verian collected 1,064 responses for the survey from an online panel between 30 December and 3 January. The results have a margin of error of roughly three points.

Aleksi Teivainen – HT