Why Finland’s quiet archipelago is now on alert for Russian spies

Sea surveillance on the Åland Islands intensifies after country’s Nato entry and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Lieutenant Juri Jalava keeps a stern eye on the red-granite shores of the Baltic coastline as his patrol ship cuts through the water.
When he joined the Finnish coastguard in the aftermath of the Cold War, Lt Jalava was mainly inspecting pleasure boats – and perhaps fishing out the odd drunk tourist.
Today, his patrol routine has been transformed by the tensions with Moscow; since the invasion of Ukraine and Finland’s entry into Nato, he is on alert for potential Russian spies or saboteurs.
“Everything has become more intense,” Lt Jalava told The Telegraph as his vessel cruised past a cluster of wind power turbines near the Åland Islands, an autonomous territory of Finland which is his main area of surveillance.
“We are taking great care of watching what happens, not exactly in our area of operations but further, to get indications of what is possibly approaching our waters,” he said.
Though sea surveillance has increased across Europe, the situation is much more complex around the Åland Islands, a remote archipelago of 30,000 residents covered in timber fishing huts and sauna shacks.
Under a Soviet-era security pact, the islands are completely demilitarised, with no fortifications or military forces allowed in the area. This means Lt Jalava’s small but vigilant Border Guard has become much more important in surveilling the waters for any Russian threats.
As tensions rise, some defence and intelligence voices in Finland have started to openly suggest it is time for the Åland area to be re-militarised, following the example of Sweden’s Gotland island, which was rearmed in response to the 2014 annexation of Crimea.
Pekka Toveri, a former head of the Finnish intelligence services, has claimed that re-armament of the Åland Islands would “make it easier for us to react when necessary and increase the safety of the Ålanders and the rest of us if the situation worsens.”
Others have gone as far as describing the Åland Islands as the Baltics’ “Achilles heel”, pointing out that whoever controls them can block maritime access to the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland.
At the same time, around 96 per cent of Finland’s trade passes along waters near the Åland Islands, granting them major strategic value.
As Lt Jalava continues his patrol, he says a key concern for the Åland area is “loitering” boats and ships which may be trying to cut undersea cables or damage other key infrastructure. Such attacks are part of Russia’s hybrid war on Europe, a revenge of sorts for the West’s strong support of Ukrainian forces.
Lt Jalava has good reason to be suspicious: the Balticconnector, a 77km-long gas pipeline connecting Nato members in the Baltic Sea, was mysteriously damaged in October 2023, with Russia the prime suspect.
This follows suspected Russian sabotage attacks in Britain, Poland and Germany, where a major arms factory supporting the Ukrainian army was set ablaze in May. 
Finland has also been forced to close its 1,300 km-long border with Russia in response to Moscow trying to push migrants and asylum seekers across the frontier.
Another issue for the Åland Islands is Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, a gaggle of rusty, foreign-flagged tankers that evade sanctions by transporting oil and other goods to Russia.
As the ships only skirt Finland’s territorial waters, little can be done to stop them – but they also pose significant environmental hazards as they are in such a poor state of repair, Lt Jalava said.
On the islands themselves, which have a fierce spirit of independence, there seems to be little appetite for sullying the red cliffs, sauna resorts and pine forests with military bases or air defence batteries.
Jörgen Pettersson, the speaker of the Lagting, the Åland Islands parliament in the capital of Mariehamn said: “We’re not naive, we’re following very carefully what’s happening, but we are convinced our internationally agreed solution is good enough, so the islanders don’t have to be afraid.” 
“We don’t really see the point of being nervous, we managed storms and we managed unforeseen things that have happened over the years,” he said during a tour of the parliament, where he pointed out a bloody mural by a local artist depicting several Russian incursions into the islands over the past two centuries.
There is also scepticism as to whether re-armament, which requires international consensus, would make the islands any safer. Finland is already committed to defending the islands with its surrounding navy, and as a new member of Nato it can call for aid from the Western alliance if a Russian invasion did happen.
“It’s not true that it’s a black hole,” said Minna Ålander, a Finnish security expert at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. “Just because it is demilitarised, it doesn’t mean there are not plans to defend it.”
Finnish officials bristle at the suggestion they could just withdraw from the pact with Russia and rearm the island.
Consistently ranked as one of the least corrupt countries in the world, they pride themselves on sticking to a rules-based order – a moral high ground that would be lost if they broke the treaty by unilaterally sending troops to the Åland Islands.
But the concern remains that Russia may set its sights on Åland, even if the islanders don’t feel that re-armament is the solution. Mikael Boden, the head of the Swedish armed forces, has warned that he believes Putin has “both eyes” on Gotland and “probably…the Åland Islands as well”.
As for the wider region, a recent joint statement by British and Baltic diplomats said that Russia may in a few years “pivot” from the war in Ukraine to an “existential” invasion of the Baltic Sea.
In interviews with the Telegraph, Finnish and Estonian diplomats have warned that Russia is probing defences in the Baltic region in what may be part of early planning to capture the region in the event of a Nato-Russia war.
In recent months, Moscow has also reignited other border disputes with Finland and Estonia, publishing a proposal to revise its sea frontier with Finland and removing sea buoys in Estonian waters used to mark out the border with Russia.
Viljar Lubi, the Estonian ambassador to Britain, said at the time: “This is part of this ongoing hybrid warfare: Russia is aggressively trying to destabilise our society and also our support for Ukraine.
“We need to be well prepared.”
Back on the Åland Islands, residents have for the past 900 days been gathering in the evenings outside the Russian consulate – which remains in place due to the demilitarisation pact – to demand an end to the invasion of Ukraine.
Every evening at 5pm, islanders bearing “Putin go home” and “murderers, leave Ukraine” placards gather outside the consulate. Sometimes they even approach tourists arriving from the ferries nearby and encourage them to take part as well.
“I try to come as often as I can,” said Anne-Maj Morn, 80, whose father had several brushes with death during the 1939 Winter War against the Soviet Union. “One way or another we hope there will be a solution – but of course that’s too optimistic as long as Putin is in power.”
Another islander, Harriet Tuomien, 78, put it more starkly: “If the war in Ukraine goes wrong, maybe Russia will go further to try and get more land.”