Finland- EU- Russia security — страница 4

as well as UN and possible OSCE-led operations´.   Finland cooperates with NATO in numerous ways. Finland signed the Partnership for Peace (PfP) Framework Document in May 1994 and joined the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC) in June 1997. Finland supports the strengthening of the PfP and the participation of Partners in the planning of crisis management operations.   Within the PfP Finland has taken part in the Planning and Review Process (PARP) since February 1995. The Planning and Review Process is for Finland the central tool for developing military interoperability and it helps to facilitate the evaluation and development of the capabilities of forces to cooperate in crisis management operations.   Finland's participation in PARP and in other

cooperative efforts with NATO has two conditions: in the prevailing politico-security situation Finland remains militarily non-allied and maintains a credible national defence. Through cooperation, the preconditions for international crisis management are created, as well as the possibility of influencing European security structures in the national interest. Today, Finland is not aspiring to NATO membership. However, close and constructive cooperation with the Alliance is high on the Finnish agenda. While such cooperation promotes European crisis management capabilities, it also enhances Finland's interoperability with other nations and thus indirectly improves its national defence.   5.  The Security Environment of Finland   From the perspective of Finland, the

European Union, Russia and NATO are the central actors in security development in Europe. They are all in a state of transformation and affect security and stability in Finland's environs in northern Europe. Finland supports the stability of northern Europe and of the entire continent by maintaining and developing a national defence, which is credible relative to its security environment.   During the preparatory phase of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC), which later led to the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997, Finland and Sweden took an active role to include the so-called Petersberg tasks (humanitarian and rescue tasks, peacekeeping tasks and tasks of combat forces in crisis management, including peace enforcement) in the tasks of the European Union. The Finnish-Swedish

initiative paved the way for developing the Common European Security and Defence Policy in the Cologne and Helsinki European Council meetings in 1999.   Finland supports a strong EU and participates constructively in developing the Union's security and defence policy. Finland's commitment in developing the EU's crisis management capabilities complements the work already done for years with the UN and through NATO's Partnership for Peace Programme. While Finland continues to closely co-operate with these organisations, it also contributes to the EU's possibilities to prevent and react to crises and thus to strengthening the EU's position as an international actor (from Security and defence policy, written for Virtual Finland by Janne Kuusela, adviser; Ministry of Defence,

International Defence Policy Unit).   III.  Russia and Finnish Security   Among the factors affecting Finland's security, Russia clearly is one of the most significant. Russia has been a key part of the European security landscape for centuries and continues to be one today. The Finnish-Russian border is 1,300 kilometers long, and Finland wants to keep it a border of peace and cooperation. By integrating Russia into the network of multilateral international cooperation, we will be making a valuable contribution to European as well as international security.   Finland does not believe that Russia would increase its security, nor make its neighbors more safe, by isolating itself from the rest of Europe. For this reason Finland some time ago supported Russian

membership in the Council of Europe. For the same reason Finland is now actively participating in European Union-sponsored assistance programs in Russia.   I also believe that the first round of Russian presidential elections was a victory for democratic development in Russia. It is another contribution to stability in all of Europe. When stability and predictability inside Russia increase, the chances for more intensive cooperation increase as well. For one thing, this means that such open issues as NATO enlargement, the stipulations of the CFE treaty, and Russia's relations with its neighbors, especially with the Baltic States, can be a matter of negotiation, not one of confrontation (from Security in a Changing Europe: A Finnish View Minister of Defense of Finland Anneli