U.S. in talks to establish military bases in Finland

1 May, 2023 US military. Photo credits: The official U.S. Department of Defense Facebook account

Finland and the U.S. are negotiating a defense cooperation agreement (DCA) that would allow the U.S. military to use Finnish land and bases for training and weapons storage. Local media Helsingin Sanomat reported about this. Last week, negotiations on a defense cooperation agreement between Finland and the United States took place in the capital of Finland.

Mikael Antell, the deputy head of the department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland said that the text of the agreement is almost ready. During the negotiations, it was revised only once "in a positive spirit and in search of a solution among the allies." The defense agreement is supposed to strengthen Finland's defense capabilities through the presence of the United States and the possible early deployment of American defense systems.

Finnish President Niinisto and US President Biden met in Washington, March 2022.

The terms of the DCA will allow the deployment of military units.

The rules will regulate their stay on the territory of the state, the storage of military equipment, and potential American investments in infrastructure. As an example, the diplomat mentioned the possible option of creating a service center on the territory of Finland for the maintenance of American fifth-generation F-35 fighter jets. At the same time, an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland emphasized that the DCA does not concern the possible deployment of nuclear weapons in Finland.

It is known that at the beginning of the negotiations, the U.S. requested access to larger territories, but during the discussion, the request was reduced. The territories in the agreements are not called bases, but "agreed objects and zones". According to Helsingin Sanomat, negotiations on a defense cooperation agreement at the official level between the U.S. and Finland will continue until 2024.

After that, the draft document will be submitted for consideration by representatives of the parliament. The U.S. is currently conducting similar defense cooperation negotiations with Sweden and Denmark. The United States concluded a similar agreement with Norway in 2021.

As previously reported, Finland officially became a member of NATO on April 4.

The country applied to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization shortly after the start of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Until now, Finland had no plans to give up its neutral status.