U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, right, and Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen sign a defense cooperation agreement in Washington on Dec. 18, 2023, in a screenshot from YouTube. (YouTube/U.S. State Department)
U.S. forces are gaining access to 15 military sites in Finland, where a new defense agreement reached this week also paves the way for the positioning of American military gear in the country.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday that the deal will enhance the Pentagon’s ability to carry out missions there.
“Today is just the latest demonstration of the United States’ comprehensive effort to bolster trans-Atlantic security,” Blinken said, adding that a series of similar deals with Sweden and Denmark is fortifying the alliance’s position.
The pact allows U.S. forces to have exclusive access to defense materiel pre-positioned in various locations, with “unimpeded access” to those storage facilities.
Also, military aircraft, vehicles and ships will have access to various airport and seaports, the deal says.
Among the sites U.S. forces will be granted access to is a border guard base in Ivalo, a northern area near Russia’s fortified Kola Peninsula.
In line with other U.S. agreements, NATO treaty rules that exempt military pay from local taxation also apply for troops on missions in Finland. However, the deal does not call for any permanent U.S. bases to be established in the country.
“We now have a network of defense cooperation agreements that stretches from northern to southern Europe, from the Norwegian Sea to the Black Sea, providing security and stability for people all across the Continent,’ Blinken said.
Speaking alongside Blinken, Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen said the agreement “significantly enhances our ability to act together in all situations in military, security, defense fields.”
The deal comes just eight months after Finland joined NATO, ending decades of military neutrality. The desire to become a member of the U.S.-led alliance was sparked by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
On Sunday, Russian President Vladimir Putin lashed out at Finland for entering NATO.
“There were no problems, but now there will be, because we will now create the Leningrad Military District there and definitely concentrate military units there,” Putin said in an interview with state broadcaster Russia 1.
Finnish membership in NATO and the potential accession of Sweden amount to a major blow for Putin, who has long railed against enlargement of the alliance near Russia’s borders.
