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Finnish FM rectifies Washington think tank predictions about Finland defending Baltics

Xinhua, April 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

Finnish foreign minister Timo Soini stressed on Friday that the conclusions of a Washington DC think tank regarding the would-be behavior of Finland in a Baltic conflict were those of the think tank only.

Finnish newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet (HBL) published earlier this week details of a war game arranged two months ago in Washington by Center for a New American Security (CNAS), an American think tank.

In a follow-up report after the war game, CNAS said Finland would actively assist its southern Baltic neighbours in warding off a Russian attack.

Three Finnish high echelon security policy specialists were among the 50 European experts taking part in the mock war scenario.

Soini told the newspaper it was useful for Finland to take part in a variety of such theoretical exercises. "But if a real situation is rehearsed, then security policy-based restrictions apply," he said in a statement published Friday morning in HBL.

Soini also underlined that the Finnish participants in the war game were not making decisions on behalf of Finland, but were instead viewing the situation from various perspectives.

One of the participants, Mikko Kinnunen, head of the security policy and crisis management unit at Finnish foreign ministry, told the newspaper the participants did not represent their countries but rather were assigned roles representing different sides of the game.

In the imaginary situation of the CNAS game, Finland, Sweden and Norway had supposedly used their naval and air power to help the Baltic countries. Based on the game, CNAS predicted in its report that Finland would act that way in a real situation.

Kinnunen said that in the current security policy scene "these types of things" have to be considered, but the intention is "not to worsen the situation, but to create stability." He described the game as a useful way to test what could be done to create decision making capability within European Union and NATO.

HBL noted the American think tank had purposely invited many participants from Norway, Finland and Sweden so as to analyse the relations between these countries and their attitudes towards the Baltics.

The CNAS war game was named "Assured Resolve: Testing possible challenges to Baltic security." Endit