Russia-NATO Tension

How Germany and Scandinavian countries prepare the population for war

Berlin builds bunkers, Norway thinks about iodine tablets against radiation: for Northern Europe the possibility of conflict is approaching

by Enrico Marro

30 November 2024

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La copertina della guida “In case of Crisis or War”, distribuita alla popolazione svedese.

3' min read

3' min read

The most exposed are probably the Finns, who in addition to being newly joined NATO find themselves over 1300 kilometres of border with Russia. Half a million citizens have downloaded a survival guide: it is entitled 'Preparing for incidents and crises' and also includes 'long-term crises such as military conflicts'.

Soldati statunitensi durante un’esercitazione Nato condotta nell’Europa dell’Est.

Can you survive 72 hours?

In Finland there is also a website, 72tuntia.fi, which right from the homepage brutally asks citizens: could you survive 72 hours? .

In the event of an emergency, he recommends stocking up three days' worth of food (Sweden and Norway even recommend a week's supply), shutting yourself in your home by locking doors and windows, waiting for instructions, but also defending against cyber attacks.

And courses to prepare for 'accidents and crises' are also multiplying, with the list of supplies to be stockpiled in shelters and psychological preparation. The Russian attack on Ukraine seems to have abruptly awakened Helsinki from the torpor of long neutrality, bringing back not particularly pleasant memories such as Stalin's aggression against Finland in 1940.

Swedish guide: "If a war comes"

Former neutral Sweden, which itself joined NATO after the Russian aggression against Ukraine, has prepared a 32-page brochure entitled 'If a Crisis or War Arrives'. It begins by explaining that 'armed conflicts have come to our corner of the world' and that in the event of an attack 'every citizen must do his part to defend Swedish independence and our democracy'.

The guide recommends stockpiling food supplies for a week, especially water, and explains what warning systems are in place, where air-raid shelters are located, and how to defend against cyber attacks.

La pagina della guida svedese dedicata agli allarmi aerei per incursioni nemiche.

In Norway brochure distributed to all households

The Norwegian Civil Defence department, on the other hand, has already distributed its guide to all households, stating that 'we live in an increasingly turbulent world' plagued by climate change and, in the worst cases, 'acts of war'.

The advice again is to stock up on non-perishable foodstuffs for at least a week: crackers or rusk, canned legumes, dried fruit, chocolate, honey, biscuits, nuts, energy bars. Not forgetting medicines, including stocks of iodine tablets in case of a nuclear attack.

Germany thinks bunkers

And Germany? The German Minister of Defence, Boris Pistorius, said it loud and clear: you have to start preparing the population for war. But Berlin does not limit itself to brochures. It has just launched a plan to build bunkers, including a app to geolocate the nearest shelter.

Il ministro della Difesa tedesco Boris Pistorius assieme a Zelensky durante l’addestramento in Germania di truppe ucraine (Afp).

After dismantling the Cold War structures, Germany realised it had only six hundred shelters, capable of accommodating just 480,000 citizens out of a total of 84 million.

And so it is preparing to equip underground stations, undergrounds of public buildings, but also private cellars or garages. As has already been done by Poland.

Possible attack on NATO by 2030

Are the Scandinavian countries and Germany exaggerating? Not according to many Western intelligence experts, starting with the head of German intelligence, Bruno Kahl. Russia's hybrid warfare (the latest suspicious episode is the submarine cable crisis in the Baltic Sea) indeed increases the risk of an escalation of unpredictable consequences.

Un carro M1 Abrams durante una recente esercitazione Nato in Polonia.

Kahl confirmed in front of the Bundestag Control Committee that Russia might launch an attack against some NATO countries by the end of the decade: Moscow is tempted to try to prove that the Atlantic Alliance will not trigger the common defence clause, Article 5 of the Treaty. Frigid winds of war thus return to lash the Old Continent. And Northern Europe begins to prepare itself.