Putin, Finland, and NATO in Far North in 2024–2025
Journal: International Journal of Contemporary Security Studies
Year: 2025

In May 2022, Finland applied for NATO, and in late 2022, launched talks on bilateral defence cooperation with the US.The country joined the alliance in April 2023; eight months later, Helsinki and Washington D.C. signed DCA.From the first days of Finland's NATO process, Moscow anticipated the outcome: according to President Putin, the alliance is not a threat but its role as a camouflage of the US interests.In this article, I employ a mitigation-and legitimization-oriented discourse analysis to