.jpg?width=1200&auto=webp&trim=76%2C0%2C399%2C0&ssl=1 "The women ready to take up arms to defend Finland")
With her freshly manicured long pink nails Nicole pushes the next round of ammunition into the magazine and loads her rifle. She then adjusts her ear protectors, lies down and positions herself carefully behind the AK15.
The first shot misses her target 100 metres across a snowy expanse, but the second hits with sharp clang and Nicole continues to make hit after hit, shifting into a seated position and then standing with the heavy gun pressed against her shoulder.
Earlier that day Nicole San Juan, 35, had come bounding into the shooting range in the Kanta-Häme region of Finland with fluffy Disney toys swinging off her backpack along with a glittery framed photo of herself and her boyfriend. Barely over 5ft tall, her slight frame stands out among the broad shouldered, bearded men dressed in camo. But Nicole is far from alone. Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 an increasing number of women in Finland are learning to shoot and familiarising themselves with firearms.
Suvi Aksela, communications manager for Naisten Valmiusliitto – the Women’s National Emergency Preparedness Association of Finland – tells The Independent that following the invasion, her organisation’s phones were “ringing nonstop” with women interested in training.
She says: “The first question we were asked was ‘how can I help? What can I do?’”
The second question? “Where can I learn to shoot?”
The Vantaa Reservists, the group to which Nicole belongs and that is holding this shooting training at the Loppi shooting range, recorded around 950 members at the end of 2021. Today their number stands at 2,312, with some 170 of these reservists being women.
Nicole signed up to the Vantaa Reservists shortly after February 2022. She says: “When the war in Ukraine started I saw these images of women fleeing and vulnerable. I realised that I could be in that situation too and I don’t have any skills.”
Nicole now attends shooting trainings regularly and is working to earn enough hours to apply for a licence to buy her own gun. She says: “I think it’s important for a woman like me to know how to use them [guns] to protect ourselves in the worst case scenario.”
The previous Friday evening, 25 of the female reservists had gathered for a girls’ night where they ate cake, had a sauna and compared weaponry. Nicole points out that women often have different preferences to men when it comes to firearms – although you may assume they would rather a lighter pistol, personally she would choose a rifle as they are easier to adjust for smaller hands. The AK15 that Nicole is shooting today is a type of assault rifle used by the special operations units of the Russian military.
Helena Laasjorvi lives in Mantsala around 50km north of Helsinki and is also a member of the Vantaa Reservists. She says: “It’s really important for me to know how to use guns because of the situation we have with our neighbour.
“Everyone should be able to protect themselves and their families.”
Not only does Finland share a 1,343km-long border with Russia, but the country lost territory to the Soviet Union in the ‘Winter War’ of 1939-1940, a painful memory that has been passed down through generations.
In the face of the hostile neighbour to the east, drawn sharply into focus by Russia’s occupation of Crimea in 2014 and large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the Finnish government has developed a strategy of “comprehensive security” that involves all parts of society taking responsibility for defence.
