Posted on 01/28/2005 6:53:20 PM PST by jb6
HELSINKI, January 28 (RIA Novosti) - Senior military officials of Russia and Finland have agreed to continue their cooperation.
Both sides believe they need to develop cooperation in the military field, notably between their air forces, Russian Air Force Commander, General Vladimir Mikhailov said at a news conference in Helsinki. He is currently in Finland with a four-day official visit.
Gen. Mikhailov told the media he had meaningful talks with the Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish armed forces, Admiral Juhani Kaskeala, and with Lieutenant-General Matti Ahola, Under Secretary of State for Defense.
The officials discussed bilateral cooperation and expertise sharing, including the upgrading and manufacturing of military hardware and the streamlining of the AF structure, Gen. Mikhailov reported. At their talks, they repeatedly stressed the need to continue contacts at all levels, as well as the necessity of further pilot crew exchange. Specifically, they agreed on principle that a Russian pilot group would take part in a traditional air show in the Finnish port city of Lappeenranta.
During his current visit to Finland, Gen. Mikhailov has familiarized himself with how the Finnish armed forces, primarily the AF, are organized and how they operate. He met with members of the Karjala air command and visited an air base in Rissala, near Kuopio.
"All this will, undoubtedly, foster mutual understanding between the neighboring countries, promoting a more durable peace in the region and dispelling suspicions about one's neighbor's actions," the Russian Air Force Commander pointed out.
Finland has a military?
Phewww. Glad to hear that. The whole world is trying to attack the poor Finns.
If Putin can't resurrect the Evil Empire to the SOuth, maybe he looking in another direction.
We should outflank him by establishing a new military alliance to replace NATO and the western Euroweenies with one involving Russia, Ukraine and Eastern Europe.
Oh yes. A small but quite capable one that fought Red Army to standstill in WW2 and managed to keep it independent unlike the fates of other baltic countries like Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. It recently bought few dozen F/A-18C (and D) Hornets to modernize it's Air Force.
Yep, they stopped the Russians cold in WWII.
"Haka paale" : Mow them down
No, just Russia. In WWII, the first russian action was the invasion of Finland.
But the Finns had developed an army equipped with skis, and with that and their superior tactics, they bled the Russian army badly.
When did they stop?
Finland was a patsy to the USSR, so being a patsy to Russian is no change or in fact inconvenience. All the infrastructure is already there.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.