Front Burner - The threat next door: How NATO’s newest members are preparing to defend against Russia (via The House)

Episode Date: September 1, 2025

NATO’s secretary general has warned Russia could launch an attack on the alliance within the next five years. Talk to NATO’s two newest members, Finland and Sweden, and they’ll tell you preparation involves a lot more than just boosting military spending. As Canada seeks to strengthen ties with both countries, what can we learn from our newest NATO allies about preparing for the worst? Supported by the R. James Travers Foreign Corresponding Fellowship, CBC’s The House producer Emma Godmere travelled to the two Nordic countries to visit bomb shelters, the Russian border and military training grounds north of the Arctic Circle to see and hear how Finns and Swedes are steeling themselves for whatever the future may bring.Every Saturday, listen to The House for in-depth explorations of the biggest issues facing Canada. You can find it wherever you get your podcasts, and here: https://link.mgln.ai/FBxTTND 

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Hey everyone, Jamie here. Today we wanted to share a new documentary with you from our colleagues at the house. It's about something we've covered a lot on this show, the volatile last few years of geopolitical shifts in Europe. Finland and Sweden are the newest members of the NATO alliance. They joined following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Producer Emma Godmere traveled to those countries to learn more about what they're doing to try and ensure their security.

in an increasingly destabilized world. She visited military training grounds, the Finnish Russian border, and a network of civilian bomb shelters being built to prepare for the worst. Here's Emma's documentary. It's called The Threat Next Door. I assume that we'll get a command soon also.

The locks are up now, so the howitzers are loaded. So we can go a little bit closer, But let's say the 30 meters from the howitzers, which is the safe area we can be in front. Even from that safe distance away, the sound of each cannon is piercing. The ground shakes and trees lurch with every launch. And you can feel the heat from the explosion. A group of young men in dark green army fatigues are crouched directly behind this howitzer, ready and waiting.

Now you can see they're holding another grenade. So I assume we are firing. Now there's the first one. Now they load up. The second one first goes to grenade. Then the metal pipe that has to come powder in. And as you can hear the sound, quite loud even when you have to protect it.

It's not just ear protection you need here in Finnish Lapland north of the Arctic Circle. This is Rova Yervi, the largest artillery range in Western Europe. You need a helmet, a flack jacket, and even though it's the end of May, the temperature is in the single digits. The conscripts training on these howitzers, these large artillery cannons, they're bundled up with thick gloves. Samu is a sergeant with the Kainu Brigade. He's asked to use just his first name for security reasons as an active member of the Finnish military.

He's keeping a close eye on the conscripts a few years younger than him, running drills on these cannons. These specific conscripts on this platoon have been training now a little under 11 months. They have like different roles there. One always makes sure that we have the right numbers. The pipe is facing the right zone. And then there's guys who bring up the grenades, bring up the can powder, and then the one who loads the grenade there. Where would these howitzers be used?

This specific two 122 millimeter a howitzer is his best used in these. kind of harsh situation, so the north, and then also these are used right now in Ukraine. It's hard to overstate how close Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine feels when you're here. When you check your watch, it's the same time in Kiev. And the aggressor in that war is right next door. When we think about the situation in the world and in Europe, the main threat is, of course, Russia right now. Lieutenant Colonel Yucca Voroslami is chief of staff of the Kainu Brigade.

He's also leading this day's long military exercise called Northern Strike. This exercise, it's not threatening anyone or against anyone, but just showing that we are ready. It's a part of the deterrence of NATO. The howitzer drills are just one part of northern NATO. strike. They also mark the final weeks of training for some of these conscripts. In Finland, every young man is called up to serve when he turns 18. So I am Corporal Maetta, and I'm serving in this Kainu Brigade for my country. How old are you? I'm 20 years old. I have

been born in 2005. What are you motivated to protect? What threats are you protecting against? there's as you can see in europe there happens a lot of things so that keeps like your thoughts awake so you don't stay comfortable this where we live in it's a different world than like 20 years ago a lot of things can happen in short time do you feel ready if you were called on to serve if that was necessary it's a scary thought but of course i would i would go on and do my best to serve my country. The point of the Finnish conscript thing isn't that we are intimidating everyone or like preparing to attack someone. But we need to let the people who are thinking like they should attack here know that we are ready. Right now we have over 900,000

reserve soldiers that within a day are ready to gear up and do their work here. But it's not like forced to attack, it's forced to defend. this country and the values we have among this land. It was only a couple of generations ago that Finns were forced to defend their country. In November 1939, Soviet Russia launched an all-out attack on Finland over air, land, and sea. The Soviets believed they'd advance quickly, but the outnumbered Finns put up a tough resistance. The winter war lasted four months and ended in a peace treaty, that saw Finland give up a tenth of its territory,

including its second largest city, to Russia. More than 80 years later, that invasion has not been forgotten. It's forged a deep sense of preparedness passed from one generation to the next. Just ask any fin you meet. We have never been, like, true friends with the Russians. They have always been, like, pushing us down, and they're taking from us, killing us.

so we don't trust them and we never have. When I was a kid or teenage, my mom told me a lot about wartime. She told me that you have to be all the time aware that you can't trust them. It has been written in our bones 100 and 100 or thousand and thousands years ago that you can't trust them but you can't show that you don't trust. We've always lived in our grandparents fear of Russia and always live with the thought of if Russia attacks, what are we going to do? It's going to be tough if they attack.

We're going to be defending of, of course. But, yeah, I would say we would kick Russia's ass. Now, the likelihood of an imminent ground attack may be low, But the stakes have been raised since both Finland and neighbouring Sweden joined NATO. And remember, both countries, like Canada, are now obligated to respond should any NATO country come under attack. This summer, as NATO members deliberated increasing defence spending, Secretary-General Mark Ruta didn't mince words. If we want to keep our societies safe, and look, if you do not do this,

if we would not go to the 5%, you'd better spend. learn to speak Russian. I mean, that's the consequence. I cannot, I mean, when I came to NATO, people sometimes told me, yeah, yeah, but Mark, bringing these brutal facts out in the open might also rattle our population. Yes, they'd better be rattled. And the facts are clearly there that Russia is able, within five years, to mount a credible attack against NATO territory if we do not now start to take these decisions.

And then, of course, there is the issue out of fire. that shadow, amidst a new wave of defense spending and a deepening of European ties, what can Canada learn from its two newest NATO allies? As this country is facing its own existential threat, wary of a next-door neighbor, navigating what it means to be patriotic, is there more to be done, not just for the flag, but for each other? In central Helsinki in late June, Finland's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alina Veltan points to where Canada and Finland are already on the same page. There's a lot we can do together. Of course, we are very like-minded countries and look eye to eye

on so many issues in business. Of course, there's a lot we can do in trade. And especially in defence material, I think it's extremely valuable that Canada has also announced very significant investments and also an interest to further develop the defense industry together with allies. And that is definitely something we are looking forward to very much. What does Finland know better than anyone else about the next door neighbor and the potential threats on the other side of that border? We know that Russia has been a threat also in the past. We have been invaded by Russia many times in our past the last time. The last time by the Soviet Union in the Second World War

and luckily we were able to fend off the aggressor. We had to let go of some territory and I have to remind us everyone that that was the time before that was in 1940 so that was before the UN Charter was invented so before anyone suggests that there's an easy solution

to the war that Russia is waging in Ukraine that Ukraine just gives up some territory well no because this would have global implications, the UN Charter explicitly prohibits the use of violence to change borders. And this is something we have to, as the international community, stick to. Well, anyway, Russia is a threat, unfortunately, of course, in the past 30 years, a little bit over since the Soviet Union collapsed, everybody hoped Finland included, that Russia would develop into a sincere democracy, valuing human.

rights and the rule of law. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. During Putin's regime, Russia has developed into a very imperialist regime and country, now also focusing all of its economic efforts into the war effort. So we have to take this effort, or we have to take it very seriously, this threat that Russia is posing. And simply, I think we owe it to our children and our grandchildren that we step up now significantly in order to be able to protect the free world. NATO Secretary General Mark Ruta cranked up the urgency in his Chatham House speeds just earlier in June. He warned that Russia could launch an attack against NATO within five years. Is that realistic? What could that look like?

I think Secretary General just wanted to make sure that each and every member of the alliance understands why we have to step up in defense and deterrence. And he certainly succeeded because we had a very successful summit. Fully agreed with that. But the reason that we invest in defense and also are now more and more focusing on a functioning defense market, not just the national defense sector, but truly a defense market also within the alliance, is that Russia or anyone else for that matter wouldn't even start thinking of testing us. that is the value of deterrence.

Is there anything about those threats on the horizon that might keep you up at night? I'm a very good sleeper. Every time I have the chance, also on the airplane, I use the chance. I'm not losing so much my sleep because of the things which are happening in the world, but of course, from time to time there's reason to worry. At the same time, it's so important that we remain optimistic because the recipe that we have built for a successful society in Canada, in Finland, in many other countries where people can decide for themselves

how they want to live their lives, how they want to add value to the rest of the society. That is a recipe that we really have to be defending. And Finland has now been chosen as the happiest country in the world for the eighth time in a row. I guess we also know that in order to remain, so we have to take care of our defense because on the other side of our eastern border, unfortunately the world looks so different.

Finland's eastern border is NATO's longest border with Russia. It runs more than 1,300 kilometers from all the way up in Finnish Lapland south to the Baltic Sea, longer than the entire length of Saskatchewan. Russia has been building up its military bases near the Finnish border. It's also been engaging in more hybrid warfare. Hybrid threats tend to be.

to stray outside conventional military tactics and can involve disinformation, cyber attacks, other kinds of sabotage. For example, late last year, Finland seized a ship suspected of cutting critical underwater power cables in the Baltic Sea. A year before that, Finland accused Russia of sending a flood of asylum seekers over the border on bicycles in a move called weaponized or instrumentalized migration. Finland responded by closing its entire land border. When you visit the Finnish-Russian border now, it's pretty quiet. Along this would stretch about three hours from Helsinki. It's peaceful.

You can hear the birds. Auntie Verta, a deputy commander with the Finnish border guard, recalls how busy this area once was. Here in the southeast Finland, the main issue is to understand that through here goes the road between St. Petersburg and Helsinki. Now, the road to the checkpoint is nearly deserted, and Finland has begun to build a fence. Samuel Szilianen is the head of operations for the Southeast District of the Finnish Border Guard. Standing next to the newly built barrier, he points out all its different parts.

Firstly, of course, the fence, three and a half meters high with some barbed wire or NATO wire on top, so the total height is four and a half meters. And, of course, the objective of the fence is to prevent people from, crossing the border or direct the movement of persons. It's also, it prevents immediate digging under the fence, so it also goes under the ground. How far underground does it go? I just put it that it's very hard to dig under.

We have daytime, nighttime camera, infrared cameras, visible light we can show, illuminate the area, as well as loudspeakers, so we can also give the person's instructions if somebody is detected on the other side. There will be a total of 200 kilometers of fence, but the majority will be in Southeast Finland. And why that is is because, of course,

the importance of this area and where we've had basically more border incidents in the past. When you talk about border incidents, can you take me through some of the incidents that you've seen here at the Southeast border? The bigger phenomena we've had here is instrumentalized migration, which began in the summer of 2003,

where basically the Russian government and their authorities changed their long-standing policy of not controlling migrants who were trying to enter Finland. And basically they facilitated the movement of migrants towards Finland. And because of this, our government then decided to act very decisively and close all of these border crossing points on the eastern border. Canada's own RCMP visited the Southeast Finland Border Guard district, A delegation of Mounties traveled to Finland last fall

to learn about some of the technology the Finns use at the border. Neither the Border Guard nor the Mounties could shed further light on specifics they discussed. But Canada is evidently paying close attention to Finland's approach here. Now, some moves have been met with pushback. Finland extended its ban on migrants seeking asylum at the land border, a move criticized by legal experts and human rights groups. And the European Court of Human Rights has also asked Finland

to justify its ongoing border closure. For border guards like Antivirta, though, the closure and the fence are seen as necessary to counter bigger threats. We have seen the last two, three years, some kind of hybrid threats that we haven't faced before. And I would say that the most important message

is that nowadays the world isn't anymore that's secure as we thought it was. As someone who is essentially on the front lines yourself. What kind of preparations do you make on a personal level? I don't know. It's the attitude. You have to understand your role here. We are the Finnish border guard is the first line of defense in the whole country and in the future in the NATO. We have a huge country with small amount of people living. So every authority must work together and cooperate. It is actually written in law. So that's

That's why you have to understand your role through that way you can prepare yourself. Today is the calm situation, but tomorrow morning the situation might be totally different. And when we walk you can focus the shape of the corridor. It's like not bullet straight, it's like zig-zag or curving. And there's a reason for that. If there is a blast explosion, the walls will take the explosion first. Oh, wow, because it almost feels like we're in a cave. We are inside the rock, literally.

Some 20 meters below the streets of Helsinki, a network of bomb shelters stands ready to protect the residents of the capital. First, there's a blast door, and then there is a space for people if they are contaminated, so they can clean themselves. And after that, there is a door that keeps all the toxic. elements outside, even the nuclear fallout. Nina Jarvinkula is pretty matter-of-fact about what this bunker can handle. She works with the Helsinki City Rescue Department, which runs several different shelters. This one can hold 6,000 people. In terms of how long you and staff and volunteers and people would be prepared to be here for,

how long are we talking? It depends on the situation. Like what we see in Ukraine at the moment, there are like, very separate attacks and people go or not to the shelters for a couple of hours maybe and we are mainly prepared for that but if it takes longer we can keep people here longer so one thing I've noticed as we're walking through here is other people are walking here as well where are they headed there's a gym there's a playground and there is like sports arena for floor bowl and futsoe so

So this is kind of public space. Anyone can come. Druth are open from morning to evening. And now we are coming to the cafe and the kids playground. It's a bright, colorful haven of orange floors, large trampolines, even a couple of ballpits, all surrounded by the same thick rock walls. And today, it's welcomed a daycare group of about a dozen bouncing children.

And in the weekends, the kids have their birthday parties. That's a birthday room behind the white door. It's like a jungle gym with padded slides. Yeah, it's called a play cave. Play cave. Yeah. I mean, it fits the bill. Yeah.

I got to say, coming down here with you, I did not expect to see a bunch of three-year-olds jump on a trampoline in the middle of a bomb shelter. Well, yeah. This is the dual use. Firstly, it's built as a shelter, but we use it in a piece time for something else. Just to have it ready and it stays in good condition. Does the playground stick around if this needs to be used as a bomb shelter? Unfortunately not. You need the space.

Yeah, we need the space for the people. I think when people picture bomb shelters, they picture something very dark, very cramped, very cold, whereas... Very World War II. Exactly, and whereas you come in here, and right now it's brightly lit. I just think it's fascinating that if you're a kid, maybe the idea of coming down here to shelter doesn't feel as scary if you've been here already. Well, yeah, I talked to some parents who were in a playground with very small kids, and I asked, you know, this is shelter, and they said, some no, some don't, but Those who know, they said, yeah, maybe it would be easier. Also, when people come and shelter, they might be scared, nervous, maybe aggressive, because they are scared.

So we keep them busy. They are focused on that, not about the bombing, for example. So one group is helping the volunteers to maintain the shelter. They have some tasks. Everyone's got a role to play. Yeah. And everyone knows these shelters are everywhere. We've been building the shelters since the World War II.

So people are used to them. And we have had the same neighbor for ages. So we never, even when there was this like peace and love period in the 90s, when Soviet collapsed, we never stopped building this. Guess who just bundled their home in auto with Desjardin insurance? Well, look at you, all grown up and saving money. Yes, I am. Mom told you to do it, didn't she?

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break rules and haunt you see the stories that don't ask permission they demand to be seen this fall on APTN they're coming for you I'm Emma Godner reporting from Finland and Sweden on what Canada can learn about defense and security from its new NATO allies on this special edition of the House. It turns out the Finns have a name for their constant state of preparedness. They live by a concept called comprehensive security. Comprehensive because it extends beyond the military, beyond even the government. The very foundations of our security are resting on the fact that the individual citizens

are keenly aware of the need for security and defense and are prepared to do their share. Iana Kuselah is one of Finland's top civil servants on the security file. He's Director-General of the Defense Policy Department at the Ministry of Defense. So in Finland, people understand well that we have a society which we have built for ourselves and we like it a lot. But the other side of the coin is that we are so small nation. We have 5.6 million people with one of Europe's largest land masses

and located next to Russia. So people understand that this is not a given, that we can keep things this way. And everybody needs to do their share in defending and safeguarding the nation. And everybody means everybody, industry and businesses keeping services running in a time of crisis. Citizens ensuring they have 72 hours of emergency supplies ready to go, helping out in those bomb shelters. Everyone has a role to play. And this is a kind of very fundamental thing. We have been developing in Finland ever since the Second World War.

It's based on our near-death experiences in 1940s. And that's something we think it's very important to maintain also in the future. Is there anything that a NATO ally like Canada can learn from that? Well, I think every nation needs to find their own model. We are all different societies, and we have different backgrounds and histories and requirements and geographies and demographics. so we all need to find our own ways of doing things. Sure, there are elements which can be applied in other countries,

but I would just like to highlight the fact that it all begins from individual people. Because if your citizens don't get this reality and they are not willing to do their share, then you can pretty much forget about having comprehensive security and robust defense. In Finland, robust defense is a no-brainer. But for an ally like Canada, several thousand kilometers from Europe, where threats from Russia may not feel top of mind, it's crucial to remember any threat Finland is facing,

NATO allies are facing too. If something happens, if somebody tries to challenge Article 5, namely Russia would invade or even make a limited attack against any given NATO country, of course that would mean that also Canada would be in a state of, war. Harri Mikola is a program director at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, focused on security and NATO. I'm not saying that Russia will invade a country, but I can say with 100% certainty that they will continue their coercive politics that is basically based on credible military power.

Most likely what we are going to see is still, you know, nuclear blackmail, nuclear coercion. Most likely more severe hybrid attacks against critical infrastructure. And they will build up their military power, for instance, here in the Finnish-Rosan border. That gives them the capability to coerce their smaller neighbor nations and basically force them to negotiate the limits of their own sovereignty. And Jana Kuzla at the Finnish Ministry of Defense emphasizes that, while Russia has not explicitly threatened Finland militarily, its military build-up continues,

and that power could be used to achieve political goals. We know for sure that Russia will increase its military strength on its borders with NATO, especially after the fighting in Ukraine has ceased. But after that, we are convinced that and Russians have announced that they will be stronger on their western borders, That's something, of course, we need to take account in NATO when we plan for our deterrence and defense.

We need to plan it so that everybody understands that we have such robust defense capability that it's not a good idea to test NATO's defenses. It's worth noting, hearing Finns say we in relation to NATO is still kind of novel. It was only back in 2022 that the country chose to abhorred. abandoned years of military non-alignment and apply for membership. For decades, the support for NATO in Finland was something like 20%. But when the Finnish population saw the Russian tanks rolling in Ukraine, everything changed like basically overnight.

Call it a paradigm shift, because for so long, Finland's reluctance to join the alliance was largely based on the idea that joining would antagonize Russia. For years, Russian President Vladimir Putin has made it clear he sees any expansion of NATO as an aggressive threat to his country. Turns out, his own actions ended up pulling the trigger, not just for Finland to join NATO, but for Sweden as well. We've been partners to NATO for a really long time. But what we saw during the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, we saw that NATO supports its partners, but defends its allies. And I think that was an eye-opener for our politicians,

that there's a line between being an ally and a partner. Victoria Jortmmer is Defense Policy Director at the Swedish Ministry of Defense. She stressed how much of a turning point Ukraine was, along with another key event. And that was Russia sending letters to Sweden and a number of partners, basically restricting or aiming to restrict out,

our ability to cooperate further with NATO, to exercise, to restrict our defense posture. Russia's message on top of its ongoing imperial ambitions did not sit well with the Nordics and Baltics. Nicholas Granholm focuses on threats to security in the region as deputy director of studies at the Swedish Defense Research Agency. The letter that Mr. Putin wrote in December of 2021 aimed it to the Nordics and the Bolts, and the polls, saying more or less that those of you who think you're independent, think again. And those of you who want to join NATO, you can't. But that's rubbing us, the Swedes, the wrong way. And then we realized that this is a Russia that has those kind of ambitions still, even towards us.

And we wanted to make clear that we are a sovereign country, we make our own decisions regarding our defense policy and security policy. And many of us have been saying that Sweden and Finland will not join NATO as long as Mr Putin doesn't do something stupid. And he did. So that's what he got back, a united Nordic alliance for the first time in, say, 500 years or so, which is quite substantial. Back at Rovaliervi, the artillery range,

of the Arctic Circle, that united alliance is on clear display, as Swedish troops join the Finns to participate in this northern strike exercise. Today we are using Archer-Tunery System. It's a self-propelled Haweitzer that can fire up to 50 kilometers of range with special ammunition. Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Dallin is leading the Swedish contingent here. He says while Sweden and Finland have worked together, in the past, collaborating in a NATO context is new. When I was training to be an officer, our goal was to protect Sweden, our own country,

our own borders. We know that we had Finland between us and Russia. They will do their work, but still we would protect Sweden. Now we're doing it in a total other context. Our aim is to protect the NATO, the NATO borders. The NATO borders against Russia is in Finland. And we most probably would conduct our main operations to do that in Finland, not in Sweden. Is it becoming more and more important to cement that interoperability? Yeah, it is all the time, especially in the high north. We don't have so many troops stationed here in the normal days, so to say. So the protection of the high north is to get units up here and conduct the training

and the support. and deterrence against Russia to show the force that we are here. We are conducting operations. We are prepared. Don't do anything. We've seen increasing reports of Russia building up their military presence just on the other side of the border, which I realize we're about maybe just over two hours from the Russian border. About 80 kilometers from here, the Russian border. Is that on your mind during an exercise like this?

Yeah, it's on the mind, but still we are here to train and show our abilities. We know the Russians are looking, they are conducting intelligence, gathering, and so on. But they know we are here. While Russia is watching, the Swedes are under pressure to increase their preparedness. Like Canada, Sweden slashed defense spending after the end of the Cold War. They prioritized peacekeeping abroad over territorial defense. They even scrapped their long-running military draft. But things changed around the time Russia annexed Crimea.

In the face of growing threats, Sweden reintroduced conscription for both men and women, doubled defense spending in the last four years, and they're still working to familiarize younger generations with the preparedness that Swedes of a certain age remember well. My experience, I was the last who did military service here in Sweden before they kind of took everything away. Yuukim Vif is 52 years old, relaxing in a park in Stockholm, with friends Matilda Westerlund and Adam Bjorkman,

who were a few years too young for conscription. Both my parents did lumpen, as we call it. So I grew up hearing about it, and just knowing that that generation did it, and that was only one generation ahead of me. And then it was not really applicable for us, so it was more something you heard stories about. There was no thought.

about having an increased defense at all, at least for me, at that time. Now it feels more natural. And I would also agree that there should be some level of conscription. And I kind of regret not doing it myself. Before it was like everybody had to do. I was kind of last generation who did that. What was it like to be part of that and then to see it all go away and to see it ramp up again? I think it's good and you have to have an army and defense and defend yourself and I wasn't too happy about the decommissioning of everything and then we have to pay the price now because with the ones you talked with that generation can't connect maybe to what I can connect to when the whole country was involved and it's it's something deep in the soul of the people I think and that's that's

today really hard to rebuild. The Swedes who were tasked with that rebuilding recognised the long road ahead, but they have some tools at the ready. Sarah Murdole works at the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency where she's head of international relations. She's holding a bright yellow pamphlet. So on the front cover,

we see a woman dressed in army clothes with a gun in her hand. In case of crisis or war, important information to all residents of Sweden. And this showed up in the mailboxes of millions of Swedes, right? Yeah, 5.2 million. Late last year, Sweden updated and widely circulated this pamphlet to reflect what the government calls a worsening security situation. This new version also places a key message front and center.

It starts with quite on a serious note. It says if Sweden is attacked, we will never surrender. Any suggestion to the contrary is false. That's a pretty bold statement right out of the gate. That's a bold statement, and it also starts with a heading saying war, the ultimate threat to our freedom. I think our prime minister has stated on some occasions, he has said we are not at war, but we are not at peace either.

Addressing war is important for us because that is, ultimately the greatest challenge, I would say, to our society. So we need to work on a worst scenario basis. And just looking through the contents here, I see seeking shelter, digital security. There's a whole chapter here on how to stop bleeding. That's true. And we've also added, and this is also based on experiences from Ukraine, how you seek shelter during an air raid.

We also speak of nuclear weapons. We describe what the heightened state of alert means, total defense duty. Sweden calls this level of preparedness total defense. Consider it the Swedish equivalent to Finland's concept of comprehensive security. And just like in Finland, the Swedish government emphasizes that a prepared and informed population is crucial. What do you think other countries like Canada can learn from Sweden about preparedness?

I think that there is mutual learning to do. I mean, Canada, but also the U.S., you are badly affected by natural disasters, and they are on a scale, which makes them relevant also for us to understand and study because essentially much of the preparedness and the measures we take to prepare Sweden for war are also relevant for peacetime crisis and emergencies, of course. So I think we have things to learn from you, but maybe you can get some inspiration from how we address our population and how we perhaps dare to speak about the worst-case scenario the way we do.

Back in Helsinki, a group of newcomers to Finland are looking for the entrance to a neighborhood bomb shelter. Local volunteers have organized a workshop, all in English, Finnish takes a while to learn, to introduce residents to all the preparations they'll need to make to help this shelter run. Aksena Karhunanin has lived in the capital for several years, but is still keen to learn more about Finnish preparedness. So I just found it on Facebook, and then I decided to come because I'm originally from Ukraine, and I know that war is not something that's not possible to happen.

It's actually happening in quite many countries nowadays, so I think we all should be ready for the worst-case scenario. Lucas Andre Yunus just moved to Helsinki last year. He points to upcoming Russian military exercises as his motivation to be here. There is also a thing that maybe many people don't know that is happening next to the Baltic border, that is called Zapat military exercise that Russia is going to perform together with Belarusia.

And we don't know what's going to happen. It's going to happen in September this year, and I'm very conscious of that. So I'd rather prepare and be ready. I attended similar training organized by my own country, Lithuania, and I'm curious how it's going to look like here, where I live right now. As the 20 or so people who've shown up are funneled into this shelter, currently in underground parking garage, Lucas pays close attention to the walls around him.

It's quite fascinating. I see that they utilize the rock structure that they have here in a really amazing way. and it looks safe. I see all these pipes with what seems to be ventilation, which brings a good emotion, I think. Feels safe so far? Yeah, exactly. Not a good emotion, but I would say safety.

Yeah, in case of emergency, it looks a safe place to be. Leading tonight's workshop in a bright orange safety vest is Johannes Stenius. He ushers everyone into a white concrete room that's packed with shelter supplies. You can find a seat, and then there is some coffee and tea in the back. Johannes and his colleague Rosa Laksinen are hoping that tonight's event will be the first of many for these neighbors. So there are shelters in Helsinki for about 900,000 people.

This is one of the bigger ones that residents operate. And we don't, of course, we don't want to brag or anything. But this might be the best functioning rock shelter community in Helsinki. Really damn good, at least. There is a lot to do when we take. this shelter into use, but there's also a lot of stuff that's not written that we are developing ourselves and thinking, how do we take care of 9,000 people coming in under, you know, severe stress? There's no ready manual to how to operate a shelter like this.

Johannes rattles off a list of tasks residents will need to undertake themselves, setting up beds, operating the ventilation system. They hold regular evenings like this to come. cover it all. And he pitches tonight's attendees on making a return visit. So here is the Tuesday schooling next week, where we learn how to use the wastewater pump, and then there's going to be a course in this rubble rescue. So rubble rescue is when you have houses that have fallen down, and then you try to rescue people from the debris. Learning how to save people from their bombed-out homes, not your average weeknight social event. but necessary in a country that's preparing for anything.

The group heads out to explore more of the shelter to see the water and air filtration systems firsthand. Lucas from Lithuania reflects on what he's heard so far. I'm interested. It's very useful. It's very interesting. And I was just silent, laser-shocked to the presentation, observing the information like a sponge. I can see Finland is really... so well-prepared and investing in this. I'm happy. I think there are a lot of countries who

should copy and learn, especially those with the border with Russia. I wish my own country had something like that. Oksana from Ukraine takes a careful look at the equipment residents will be trained on. I'm very much impressed how the group of volunteers can maintain this huge machine and operation, so super interesting. Does it feel scary at all? It does sometimes. I was just thinking that when we were listening to the training,

this makes you already uncomfortable in a way that I might be in the situation when I would actually need to live through this experience. But at the same time, you also know that there are thousands or maybe even millions of people who are going through this experience already. So, yeah, I think it's just important. and to be prepared and know how to behave when something happens,

and then you're not in this panic or shock mall, but you can actually not just, you know, be frozen, but react and maybe help the community as well. At the end of the tour, Johannes and the other volunteers stick around to answer questions. What do you hope people get out of this and bring home with them? Well, I hope they see that we are just regular people and that they get courage to join it. because it's a pretty fun way to learn to know your neighbors,

which is harder and harder in cities nowadays. So you can see that it's not difficult. You don't have to be an engineer. You don't have to possess some special power to join in and just come visit for a few times and learn some more at least. Before he leaves, Lucas shares what he'll be taking home with him. Most importantly, I hope I will never have to use this information that I hate today, but it allows me to sleep better at night knowing this.

So, Finland and Sweden are taking action. How about Canada? Is this country ready to step up, beyond spending more on the military? Is there a role for everyone to play here? Canada may feel like an ocean away from the threats that Finland and Sweden warns so seriously about, but when you readjust your map and center it on the North poll, you see how much closer Russia actually is to Canadian shores.

Nicholas Granholm of the Swedish Defense Research Agency has this very map laid out in front of him, as he emphasizes how this is a moment for all allies to act. We're going from a period of, say, 25 years where we had globalization, and everyone's trading with everyone, and we're all friends here and the same team, and we are shifting into something else, shifts from one order to another. They're often always very difficult, and at worst, they may be very bloody as well. So it matters quite a lot what we do here. It's not deterministic that this is going to go to hell in a handbasket, more or less,

but it matters what we do. You've been listening to a new documentary from our colleagues at the house. It's called The Threat Next Door and it was reported by Emma Godmere. We'll be back with a brand new episode of Front Burner tomorrow. For more CBC podcasts, go to cBC.ca.ca slash podcasts.