Living next door to Russia: How Moscow's war in Ukraine sparked a seismic shift in Finland

"A Russian is a Russian" the old Finnish saying goes, "even if you fry him in butter."

While political leaders have warned against holding individual Russians responsible for Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, this one phrase -- that everything except Russians tastes better after being fried in butter -- sums up an ingrained wariness in the national psyche when it comes to attitudes about their huge eastern neighbour.

With a 1,300-kilometre shared border -- the longest in the European Union -- more than a hundred years as part of the Russian Empire, and two bloody wars in the 20th century (not to mention a couple of decades of Finlandisation, when the Kremlin had the final say on any major political decisions), the Finns like to think they know a thing or two about dealing with Russia.

Even the canny Finns, though, were caught by surprise at the speed of developments that unfolded since 24 February, when Russia invaded Ukraine.

In just two weeks there's already been a seismic shift for politics, business and society in the Nordic nation. And the question of an application to join NATO, long since put on the back burner of public debate, has become the number one subject of political discourse from Hanko in the south to Utsjoki in the north, and all points in between.

The issue is certainly getting a good airing - or to use another Finnish phrase, the cat has been put on the table.

"I think everything has changed in a few weeks. The European Union has changed a lot. And the discussion has changed totally. And it's understandable when people are very afraid," says Jussi Saramo, the deputy leader of Finland's Left Alliance party, one of the five which make up the government coalition.

In light of the Russian invasion, the Left Alliance