City under the city: Baerbock swarms in the giant bunker - and suddenly begins child's play

Annalena Baerbock's visit to Scandinavia is actually about the planned northern expansion of NATO.

During a visit to the bunker, however, the Foreign Minister briefly became a child again.

Helsinki – Brisnater visit for Annalena Baerbock.

The Foreign Minister traveled to Scandinavia, where she is visiting Sweden and Finland.

In the foreground: the planned NATO accession of both countries.

Both Finland and Sweden are waiting to join the alliance.

So far, however, Turkey, as a NATO member, has blocked attempts to join.

Baerbock visits a huge bunker in Finland - and gets enthusiastic

As early as Monday, Baerbock called for NATO's northern expansion to finally be able to be carried out "without further delays".

She also made a clear statement on the current debate as to whether the NATO countries should deliver fighter jets to Ukraine.

According to the Foreign Minister, this discussion is currently irrelevant in Germany.

During the visit to Finland, Baerbock visited the huge bunkers under the Finnish capital after the political talks.

The Foreign Minister was literally enthusiastic about the “city under the city”.

"In terms of civil protection, Finland is a pioneer in Europe and a role model for all of us," she said.

The underground facilities offer space for 900,000 people – more than the city has inhabitants.

Curious Baerbock situation in Finland: Foreign Minister begins child's play in the bunker

In the bunker itself there was another curious situation.

During the tour, the Green politician noticed yellow markings on the floor, which apparently reminded her of a popular schoolyard game for children: "Heaven or Hell".

In any case, the 42-year-old felt compelled to hop through the boxes on the floor.

Photographers captured the moment.

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Annalena Baerbock hops in a school yard game style in a bunker in Finland.

© Christophe Gateau / dpa

The bunker question has become even more explosive as a result of the Ukraine war, also because Germany would probably be poorly equipped in the event of war.

In times of peace, the facilities visited by Baerbock in Helsinki are used, among other things, as sports halls.

Baerbock looked at fields for floorball, a kind of indoor hockey.

There are 50,500 bunkers in Finland, sheltering five million people.

Finland has 5.5 million inhabitants.

The plants date back to the Cold War, when Finland faced a particularly severe threat.

The country shares a 1,340-kilometer border with Russia.

Baerbock referred to this long border in an answer to the question of why Germany does not have such protective systems.

Germany was "fortunately in the past not exposed to the risk that we ourselves are vulnerable" to the same extent as other countries, she said.

But she also emphasized that the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine signified a turning point.

"Precaution is the best protection, especially in these times," she said.

Speaking of bunkers: the interior ministers of the federal states recently called for a bunker plan for Germany.

List of rubrics: © Christophe Gateau / dpa