Finland hails plan for allies to join NATO land forces on its soil
FILE PHOTO: Finnish Defence Minister Antti Hakkanen attends a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group on the eve of a NATO defence ministers' meeting at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium February 12, 2025. REUTERS/Johanna Geron/ File Photo
HELSINKI (Reuters) -Finnish Defence Minister Antti Hakkanen hailed plans on Wednesday for six NATO member states including Britain and France to participate in land forces that are to be established in northern Finland.
Finland, which has a longer border with Russia than any other NATO state, has strengthenedthe frontier in the two years since it joined the military alliance following a policy U-turn after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
"I am very pleased that yesterday, in connection with the ministerial meeting, we were able to announce that Sweden, the United Kingdom, France, Norway, Denmark and Iceland are set to join FLF Finland," Hakkanen said on X, referring to what NATO calls Forward Land Forces.
NATO leaders were meeting on Wednesday in The Hague.
Helsinki and Stockholm agreed last year that Sweden would lead the establishment of a NATO land force in Finland and invited other allies to participate.
The number of troops is yet to be defined. But the Finnish defence ministry has said that there is a plan for up to a brigade - about 5,000 soldiers - and a significant number of equipment to be brought in if the security situation worsens.
The first NATO land forces will start to arrive this year and be placed above the Arctic circle in Rovaniemi and Sodankyla, it said.
In addition to the foreign reinforcement force in the north, Finland will host a new NATO land force headquarters for officers in Mikkeli, southern Finland, an about two-hourdrive from the Finnish-Russian border.
(Reporting by Anne Kauranen in Helsinki, Editing by Timothy Heritage)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
an hour ago
- The Star
Trump considers more Patriots for Ukraine, says Putin "has to end" the war
U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy attend a meeting on the sidelines of NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands June 25, 2025. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. THE HAGUE (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump indicated on Wednesday he will consider providing more of the Patriot missiles that Ukraine needs to defend against mounting Russian strikes, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin "really has to end that war". His remarks came after a 50-minute meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on the sidelines of a NATO summit in The Hague. Both leaders described it as a positive step in a conflict that Trump described as "more difficult than other wars". During a press conference in which he celebrated his own diplomatic efforts in the Middle East, Trump said the Patriots were "very hard to get" but that "we are going to see if we can make some of them available". Zelenskiy mentioned air-defence systems but it was not immediately clear whether Trump was referring to more missiles or complete batteries. Trump also left open the possibility of providing more military aid to Kyiv, which has suffered grinding Russian advances on the battlefield in recent months. He had previously shown no sign of resuming the donations of weaponry to Ukraine that his predecessor Joe Biden had instituted after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. Asked directly whether the U.S. would contribute more funding to Ukraine's defence this year, Trump said: "As far as money going, we'll see what happens." The U.S.-made Patriot batteries are critical to shooting down the Russian ballistic missiles that have increasingly rained on Ukrainian cities in recent weeks. Dozens of people have been killed over the past week on the capital Kyiv and the southeastern regional capital of Dnipro. Zelenskiy said before Wednesday's meeting that Ukraine was willing to buy more Patriots if the U.S. was unwilling to donate them. He said the talks with Trump were "long and substantive". "Ukraine is ready to buy this equipment and support American weapons manufacturers," Zelenskiy wrote on X. "We also discussed the potential for co-production of drones. We can strengthen each other." Trump added that he would soon speak once more with Putin, adding: "Look, Vladimir Putin really has to end that war." MORE FORMAL LOOK FOR ZELENSKIY Zelenskiy wore a dark, suit-style jacket to the meeting, in contrast to the more informal military-style garb he was criticised for wearing at a disastrous White House meeting with Trump in February. He has since worked to rebuild relations with the Trump administration, whose overtures to Russia have concerned Kyiv. However, he had to settle for attending the pre-summit dinner on Tuesday evening rather than the main meeting on Wednesday, which backed the big NATO-wide increase in defence spending that Trump had demanded. Unlike last year, this year's summit declaration contained no mention of future NATO membership for Ukraine. While the statement denounced what it called the long-term threat posed by Russia to European and Atlantic security, it did not directly blame Russia for the invasion, as previous declarations have. (Reporting by Yuliia Dysa in Gdansk, Jeff Mason and Katharine Jackson; writing by Dan Peleschuk; editing by Alison Williams, Alexandra Hudson, Mark Heinrich and Kevin Liffey)
The Star
2 hours ago
- The Star
Motor racing-Carlos Sainz Sr decides not to stand for FIA president
FILE PHOTO: Formula One F1 - Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia - April 20, 2025 Carlos Sainz Sr., the father of Williams' Carlos Sainz Jr. after the race REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed/File Photo LONDON (Reuters) -Mohammed Ben Sulayem's chances of being re-elected unopposed as president of motor racing's world governing body increased on Wednesday when Spaniard Carlos Sainz Sr said he would not be standing for the FIA top job. The 63-year-old double world rally champion, four-times Dakar winner and father of the Williams Formula One driver of the same name, said in May he was considering running against the Emirati in the December election. The decision not to go ahead will allow him to compete again in the Dakar Rally in Saudi Arabia with Ford next January, something he said he did not want to miss. There is currently no other declared candidate beyond Ben Sulayem. "Hi everyone. This message is to publicly confirm that I have finally decided not to run for the presidency of the FIA in this year's election," Sainz said on X. "I have worked hard these past months to understand in depth the situation at the FIA and the demands and complexities that come with such an important project," he added. "After a thoughtful reflection, I have come to the conclusion that the present circumstances are not ideal to set the grounds for my candidacy." Sainz's son is a director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association and the older Spaniard has dismissed suggestions there would be a conflict of interest if he was elected FIA president. Sainz said his desire to serve and lead remained strong and he still believed the organisation needed to make some important changes, which he hoped would happen in years to come. Ben Sulayem, who confirmed in May that he would be standing for a second term, is a controversial figure who has had battles with teams and drivers in Formula One and rallying. He holds a strong hand in an election where regional loyalties come into play and recent statute changes have made it harder, according to critics, for potential rivals to stand against him. Presidential candidates are also required to stand with a slate of potential office-holders put forward for the various roles. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
The Star
3 hours ago
- The Star
Armenia arrests archbishop over alleged coup plot
Archbishop of the Armenian Apostolic Church Bagrat Galstanyan, who is charged with attempting to overthrow the government and destabilizing the state, waves to supporters as Armenia's National Security officers arrive to arrest him in Yerevan, Armenia, June 25, 2025. Melik Baghdasaryan/Photolure via REUTERS LONDON (Reuters) -Armenian authorities on Wednesday arrested a prominent Christian cleric, Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, along with 13 other people and charged them with orchestrating a plot to overthrow the government. In a statement, Armenia's Investigative Committee said it had filed criminal charges against Galstanyan and 15 others whom they said had "acquired the means and tools necessary to commit a terrorist attack and seize power". A total of 14 individuals have been arrested, investigators said, without naming the people. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan wrote on his Telegram channel that the authorities had thwarted a "large and sinister plan by the 'criminal-oligarchic clergy'" to take power in Armenia, a former Soviet republic in the South Caucasus. Galstanyan's arrest is part of a growing confrontation between Pashinyan and the powerful Armenian Apostolic Church, who have traded increasingly bitter allegations in recent weeks ahead of elections scheduled for next year. Some senior clerics have previously called for Pashinyan to step down over Armenia's military defeats against Azerbaijan. Last week, Russian-Armenian billionaire Samvel Karapetyan was detained on accusations of making public calls to usurp power after he accused the government of waging a campaign against the church and said he would act "in his own way" to stop it, according to state agency Armenpress. Lawyers for Karapetyan say the businessman denies wrongdoing. A lawyer for Galstanyan, Sergei Arutyunyan, told journalists on Wednesday that his client was being unfairly criminalised by the government, which he said was seeking to "create a smokescreen and simulate that they've caught a terrorist group." Pashinyan rose to power on a wave of street protests in 2018, but came under heavy domestic pressure after major losses to Azerbaijan in a brief war in 2020. In 2023, Azerbaijan retook the whole of the mountain enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh, where ethnic Armenians had enjoyed de facto independence for decades. Tapping into popular anger over defeats and territorial concessions, Galstanyan and his supporters led days of street protests last summer to demand the removal of Pashinyan. Detailing the charges that he faces now, authorities alleged that Galstanyan and associates had recruited over 1,000 people, mainly former soldiers and police officers, to block roads, paralyse traffic, incite violence and shut off the internet, with the goal of destabilising the government and seizing power. The Investigative Committee published audio recordings purporting to show Galstanyan and others discussing plans for the alleged coup attempt, as well as a photograph showing firearms and other weapons they said were discovered during searches. Pashinyan, who faces parliamentary elections in June 2026, has moved towards signing a peace treaty with Azerbaijan, although tensions between the two countries remain high and the number of reported ceasefire violations has surged this year. (Reporting by Lucy Papachristou; editing by Mark Trevelyan and Mark Heinrich)
