Rovaniemi, long celebrated as the “official home town of Santa Claus” in Finland, is this winter welcoming more than families seeking reindeer rides and festive photo opportunities.
A growing NATO military presence is changing the atmosphere in Lapland as the alliance trains for the possibility of conflict with Russia. Even Santa Park, the city's underground amusement site, doubles as a bomb shelter for locals.
Visitors have been surprised to encounter the signs of military readiness. Donna Coyle, a tourist from Scotland, heard jets overhead during a reindeer safari. “We didn't know anything about it,” she told The Guardian. Hannah Schlicker from Stuttgart said the contrast was impossible to ignore. “This morning we took a reindeer tour and we just saw military planes going around. We felt the presence of reality being here. You cannot hide from it.”
“It's actually scary to think about it, how close we actually are [to Russia]. But at the same time the Santa Park is a bunker … maybe it helps a little bit,” Hannah added.
Over the past weeks, thousands of NATO soldiers have passed through Rovaniemi's airbase en route to Rovajarvi, western Europe's largest military training ground, located about 90 km from the Russian border. The city is also set to become a hub for Finland's new Forward Land Forces (FLF), a Swedish-led NATO battlegroup.
The exercises come amid warnings from Russia about a more dominant military posture near Finland, with Moscow showing preparedness for confrontation if provoked. Finnish intelligence officials have warned that once the war in Ukraine subsides, Russia is likely to redeploy forces to its northern border.
At Rovajarvi, troops from Finland, Sweden, the UK, and Poland have been taking part in large-scale drills. The latest, Lapland Steel 25, brought together rifle units, tanks, helicopters, and Arctic-trained soldiers manoeuvring through deep snow.
Lapland, though home to just 3 per cent of Finland's population, accounts for more than a quarter of the country's 1,450 km border with Russia. The region borders the Kola Peninsula, which hosts Russia's largest concentration of nuclear weapons.
Last week, officers from Sweden, Finland, and Norway met in Rovaniemi to finalise plans for the FLF.
