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Finland TREATY COMMITMENTS AFFECTING NATIONAL SECURITY
Considering the magnitude of the defeat and the blows
that
were dealt to other nations fighting on Germany's side
during
World War II, Finland did not fare badly when the terms
for the
Treaty of Paris were completed on February 10, 1947. With
respect
to national security, the most important parts of the
peace
treaty were the restrictions it put on Finland's armed
forces.
Part III, Articles 13 through Article 22, limited the
future
regular Finnish army to 34,400 soldiers, the navy to 4,500
individuals, and the air force to 3,000. There were also
exclusions of equipment of an offensive nature, such as
bombers,
missiles, and submarines. Warships could not exceed a
combined
total of 10,000 tons. The air force could acquire up to
sixty
combat planes, but they were not to include bombers or
fighter
bombers. None of the services was allowed to construct, to
procure, or to test nuclear weapons.
The stipulations on the size of the Finnish armed
forces were
included on the demand of Britain, which did not want to
accord
special treatment to Finland. (Limiting provisions also
had been
incorporated into the peace treaties with Romania,
Bulgaria, and
Hungary.) Fears that Finland would soon come within the
Soviet
orbit may also have influenced the British demands. The
peace
treaty restrictions have never been interpreted as
prohibiting
Finland from training and arming a large reserve force,
however.
The Soviet Union has, on the contrary, been willing to
sell
Finland equipment far in excess of the needs of its
standing
army.
Changing geopolitical conditions and weapons technology
have
resulted in an easing of the treaty's restrictions. In
spite of
the prohibition against missiles of all types, in 1963 the
contracting parties approved an interpretation of the
peace
treaty permitting Finland to acquire defensive missiles.
Finland
subsequently armed itself with naval surface-to-surface
missiles
(SSMs), antiaircraft missiles, and antitank missiles. In
1983,
following another interpretation that the treaty's ban on
magnetic underwater mines did not prohibit mines of a
defensive
nature, Finland was permitted to buy modern mines from
Britain
and from the Soviet Union.
The problems of national defense were also affected by
the
Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Mutual Assistance
(FCMA--
see Appendix B) with the Soviet Union, requested by Joseph
Stalin
in February 1948 and signed by the Finnish government in
April of
the same year
(see The Cold War and the Treaty of 1948
, ch. 1).
The most important defense-related clauses were Articles 1
and 2,
which deal with military cooperation and consultation
between
Finland and the Soviet Union. Other articles deal with
noninterference in the internal affairs of the other state
and
agreement not to enter into an alliance aimed against the
other
party of the treaty.
The Finnish government distinguished the FCMA treaty
from a
military alliance by pointing out that its military
clauses were
restricted to situations of attack against Finland or
against the
Soviet Union through Finnish territory. Moreover,
according to
the language of the treaty, the military assistance to be
provided by the Soviet Union was not to come into effect
automatically; it was to require Finland's approval
following
consultations of the general staffs of the two nations.
The FCMA treaty has been renewed several times, most
recently
in 1983 for a twenty-year period. The frequent renewals,
long
before the expiration dates, seemed to reflect intense
Soviet
interest in the treaty. Finland has strenuously avoided
military
consultations under the treaty and has never accepted
hints by
the Soviets that the treaty should be the basis for
military
cooperation and joint exercises. Nevertheless, the
potential for
serious strains with Moscow always existed over the need
for, and
the nature of, assistance under the treaty
(see Soviet Union
, ch.
4).
The Aland Islands have historically served, during
conflict
in the Baltic Sea, as naval bases and as staging and
transit
areas in support of offensive operations on land
(see
fig. 1). In
1921 the most important Baltic countries, exclusive of the
Soviet
Union, concluded a convention that strengthened the
demilitarization of the islands originally agreed to in
1856.
Under this convention, Finland could neither fortify the
islands
nor construct military bases in the archipelago, but it
could
send armed forces there temporarily in case of a need to
restore
order or to carry out inspections by small naval vessels
or air
reconnaissance. In wartime, the convention authorized
Finland to
take necessary measures to repel an attack endangering the
neutrality of the zone.
In 1940, under a separate agreement between Finland and
the
Soviet Union, Finland reaffirmed the demilitarization of
the
islands and pledged not to place them at the disposal of
any
other state's armed forces. These commitments were
recognized by
a clause in the 1947 Treaty of Paris stating that the
islands
were to remain demilitarized. In conformity with Finland's
obligations under these agreements, the Coast Guard
patrolled the
territorial waters of the Aland Islands in peacetime. The
Defense
Forces would exercise responsibility for their defense in
wartime.
Data as of December 1988
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