Q FM Africa's Modern Radio
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has sent shivers of fear through many of its neighbours – from the Baltic states to Moldova.
Finland ought theoretically to be safe, since it has historically been neutral and gave Stalin’s Soviet army a hard time when he invaded the country in 1939.
Like other Scandinavian countries, besides Sweden, there has never been much support here to join the Nato military alliance. But when the spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry recently warned Finland and Sweden explicitly that any move towards Nato could have military consequences, people in both countries were deeply shocked.
Since then, Russian warplanes have blatantly intruded into Swedish airspace.
If being neutral is not sufficient to guard against Russia, people here are saying that maybe joining Nato will give the two countries the protection they need.
This represents a major change of mood. In Finland, particularly, relations with Russia were thought to be pretty good.
The Ukraine invasion has changed everything.