NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday that the Alliance will not station troops on the territory of Finland “without the consent” of this country, which will become the 31st member of the alliance, reports the EFE agency, citing Agerpres.
When asked by the press after arriving at NATO headquarters, whether Finland will host the military forces of other allied countries, like some states on the eastern flank of the Alliance, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg replied that “it is Finland’s decision if it wants to.” Without Finland’s consent, there will be no NATO troops in Finland.”
“In many countries, we have training, air and sea presence, but we do not have a permanent presence. And this has not yet been the topic of our discussions with Finland,” he added.
Responding to a similar question, Finnish Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen said that Finland’s future role in NATO as a member state “is the next issue we have to discuss.”
In 2017, NATO established four battalions in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, with periodic replacement of personnel on a rotational basis.
After Russia launched a war against Ukraine last year, four more battalions of the same type were created in Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary in February, and the created battalions were brought up to brigade level.
Finland has declared that it does not want NATO bases on its territory
Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said in May that Finland does not want NATO to deploy nuclear weapons or establish military bases on its territory, even if it becomes a member of the alliance.
She specified that the issue of placing nuclear weapons or opening NATO bases in Finland is not part of the negotiations on the country’s accession to the North Atlantic Alliance.
“And I don’t even think there is any interest in deploying nuclear weapons or opening NATO bases in Finland,” the head of government from Helsinki also said.
His Swedish counterpart at the time, Magdalena Andersson, for her part, said that Sweden does not want permanent NATO bases or nuclear weapons on the country’s territory.
A public opinion poll conducted earlier this year in Finland shows that almost half of Finns oppose the establishment of a NATO military base on national territory.
It is currently unclear whether the position of the future government of Finland will differ from the position of the executive power led by Sanna Marin regarding the location of NATO bases on the territory of Finland. The Social Democratic Party led by Marin lost the parliamentary elections in Finland last weekend.
Source: Hot News
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