Distant rumble of Ukraine war disturbs calm of Baltic islands

A small cabin is pictured on a skerry that is part of the Aland Islands in the Baltic Sea, Finland, June 1, 2022. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov

MARIEHAMN, Finland (Reuters) - The fighting may be more than 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) away across sea and land, but on their remote, rocky outcrop off the southern coast of Finland, the inhabitants of Aland fear the Russian invasion of Ukraine could change their lives for good.

The war has turned decades of European security policy on its head, nowhere more so than in Finland, which shares a long land border with Russia and last month applied to join NATO, despite Kremlin warnings of "serious military and political consequences".