Finland’s Nordic neighbour Sweden, on the brink of joining NATO, signed a similar deal last week.
NATO’s newest member, Finland, has announced it will sign a bilateral defence cooperation agreement next week with the United States.
The deal will allow Washington to station troops and store weapons inside the Nordic country, which shares a sprawling border with Russia.
Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen told a news conference in Helsinki on Thursday that Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen will sign the so-called Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) on Monday.
The pact, which still needs to be approved by Finnish lawmakers, “is very significant for Finland’s defence and security,” Häkkänen said.
“It bears a very strong message in this time. The United States is committed to our defence,” Häkkänen told reporters.
Finland joined NATO in April after decades of military non-alignment, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The nation of 5.6 million shares a 1,340-kilometre border with Russia that makes up a significant part of NATO’s northeastern flank. It is also the European Union’s external border in the north.
Under the deal, Finland will allow US soldiers access to 15 military areas and facilities covering the entire Nordic nation.
They range from a key southern naval base and inland air bases to a vast remote army training area in Lapland, in the Arctic north.
American troops are allowed a permanent presence and regular exercises in Finland but there are no plans to establish permanent US military bases in Finland, officials said.
Several NATO countries currently have similar bilateral defence agreements with the United States.
Last week, Finland’s close Nordic neighbour Sweden, which is on the brink of joining NATO, signed a comparable deal.
Alliance member Denmark is expected to do so in the near future.
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