Finland's Defence Minister Antti Häkkänen (NCP) is planning to introduce legislation that would prohibit people from resigning from the Finnish Defence Forces' (FDF) military reserve.
Häkkänen told the weekly Kyrönmaa newspaper, based in the western city of Vaasa, that he considers it unpatriotic for reservists to resign.
News agency STT reported on Friday afternoon that a relatively large number of reservists had applied to switch to serve in the FDF's civil service unit over the past couple of days.
A total of 160 such applications had been submitted on Thursday and by noon on Friday, the Civilian Service Center's director, Mikko Reijonen, told STT. He added that the figure was relatively large, considering there were only 255 civil service applications filed during all of January.
A record number of people applied to switch to the civilian service from the FDF's reserve in 2022.
Although the exact reasons are unknown, Reijonen noted that Russia's invasion of Ukraine was certainly a factor.
Every male Finnish citizen aged 18-60 is liable for military service, and women can volunteer to serve. Men liable for military service must complete either armed or unarmed military service or non-military civil service.
Responding to Häkkänen's comments, the head of the Finnish Reservists' Association (FRA), Kari Salminen, told STT that he would not support a complete ban on resigning from the reserve — noting that people should be allowed to resign for health or personal reasons.
Salminen added, however, that he broadly agreed with Minister Häkkänen, telling STT that he does not understand people who resign from the reserve out of fear or a diminished sense of responsibility.
Edited to add that 160 reservists had submitted civil service applications on Thursday and Friday.
Users with an Yle ID can leave comments on our news stories. You can create your Yle ID via this link. Our guidelines on commenting and moderation are explained here.
