The Vice Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces visited Finland

The Vice Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces (VCHOD), Major General Karol Dymanowski visited Finland 8 -10 April 2025. The visit was hosted by the Chief of the Defence Command, Lieutenant General Vesa Virtanen.

During the visit, the security situation in Europe and defence cooperation between Finland and Poland were discussed, both bilaterally and as part of the alliance. The guests were introduced to the Finnish conscription system.

Major General Dymanowski was familiarised with the activities of the Navy in the Coastal Brigade and visited Nyland Brigade's live firing exercise SYD in Syndalen. In addition, Major General Dymanowski was familiarised with the operations of the Border Guard by visiting the Southeast Finland Border Guard District in Vaalimaa, where the host was Brigadier General Mika Rytkönen, Chief of Operations of the Border Guard.

” I would like to thank Major General Dymanowski for the good and open discussions. Poland is an important ally for Finland, with a very strong national defence”, said Chief of the Defence Command, Lieutenant General Vesa Virtanen.

” We are both frontline countries on NATO's eastern flank, which is why we have a lot of common interests. It was a pleasure to present the Finnish conscription system. The conscripts of the Uusimaa Brigade demonstrated a high level of expertise in demanding live fires training”, Virtanen concluded.

Thanking for the hospitality and flawless organization of the visit, Major General Dymanowski expressed his appreciations for the Finish reserve systems and mentioned that Poland and Finland share the same threat perceptions and overall approach to deterrence and defence. “We have summarised our military cooperation so far, but more importantly we discussed new fields of our partnership, mainly focussed on air and artillery exercises as well as countering hybrid threats” he said.