Sannah Marin says that the switch from Non-Alignment to NATO membership happened overnight with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine

Yesterday, former Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin appeared at the European Parliament for a presentation of her memoir, Hope in Action, at an event hosted by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. The book traces Marin’s rise from a poor and working-class background to the premiership of Finland and reflects on leadership, politics and the scrutiny she faced as a young woman in power.

President Metsola and ex-Premier Marin shared their thoughts on the challenges and struggles of women in power, and were in agreement on the fact that women in power are scrutinised harder and experience more challenges more men. Sannah Marin said that she was elated that she was speaking at an institution run by a woman.

Asked about Finland’s historic decision to abandon non-alignment and join NATO, she made clear that Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine shattered old illusions overnight. The Finnish public, long accustomed to military caution and strategic distance, no longer had the luxury of pretending that Moscow could be managed through wishful thinking. Separately, Marin told Euronews that Europe “can’t rule out” a wider war with Russia and warned that the Kremlin remains a direct threat to the continent.

That warning matters because Finland knows Russia better than most. Marin has been blunt where too many European politicians still prefer euphemisms. In her Euronews interview, she said plainly that “Russia is an enemy” and stressed that Europe must stop behaving as though its security can be outsourced forever. She argued that the European Union needs to stand on its own feet militarily and politically, rather than remaining strategically dependent on the United States.

She also underlined that Ukraine is not some distant buffer but a frontline state fighting for the security of all Europe. Marin said Europe is “as dependent on Ukrainian help as Ukraine is on EU support”, a line that cuts through the lazy Western habit of speaking about Ukraine as a burden rather than an essential ally. She further argued that European defence spending will be wasted unless governments learn from Ukraine’s battlefield innovation, military adaptation and wartime technology.

On NATO, Marin’s position was equally clear: Ukraine should be brought into the alliance. Her argument is not ideological but strategic. A Europe that leaves Ukraine exposed is a Europe inviting further Russian aggression. Moscow’s regime has never hidden its imperial instincts. It invaded Georgia, devastated Syria alongside Assad, annihilated Ukrainian cities, and still dreams of restoring a sphere of domination over eastern Europe. Marin’s intervention in Brussels was therefore a necessary reminder that Russia is not a misunderstood partner but a predatory power that respects only strength.

At a time when too many in Europe still flirt with fatigue, compromise or delusion, Marin’s message was refreshingly direct: Europe must rearm, back Ukraine, and stop pretending that Russian imperialism ended with the Cold War. It did not. It merely returned in a more violent and shameless form.