Edit to include the archived version.

“It is clear that Russia in particular has significantly altered our security environment, with no signs of improvement in sight. Russia is an aggressive, expansionist state that is prepared to use all means to achieve its political goals,” [the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service] Supo director Juha Martelius wrote in an agency press release.

[…]

“The Western intelligence community has a highly uniform view of the growing threat from Russia. As a country that borders Russia and as a state on the Baltic Sea, Finland must prepare for growth in Russian influencing,” Martelius said, although Supo’s report added that Finland has not yet become a focus Russian influencing to the same extent as some other EU member states — especially those with large Russian minorities or pro-Russia political parties.

[…]

Martelius wrote that the world has entered a “gloomy era of superpower competition and confrontation between states” which is also seeing an increase in the use of proxies.

This use of intermediaries allows certain state actors to “cover their tracks”, he added.

“Such proxies enable power agencies of authoritarian countries to confuse the real state of affairs, lend plausible deniability to their actions, and foster new forms of uncertainty,” Martelius noted.

Supo has observed that many of these intermediaries […] often do not even know who they are working for.

[…]

Martelius cited Russian sabotage operations in Europe as one example of how proxies are being used.

[…]

In addition, Supo’s report noted that both Russia and China are continuously targeting Finland with espionage operations.

[…]

Finland, alongside other Baltic Sea nations, has introduced steps aimed at tackling Russia’s so-called “shadow fleet” of ships — which Finnish authorities classify as being vessels that are typically over 15 years old, poorly insured and often involved in deceptive maritime practices and sanctions evasion.

These efforts have hampered Russia’s procurement of certain controlled products, Supo said, and also makes them more expensive.

Supo therefore warned Finnish firms to be on the lookout for “unusual procurement efforts or contacts”, which may, for example, come from a recently-established company or from a firm based in a country with an unfamiliar operating environment.

[…]___