NATO armored brigade will soon be deployed in Finland

According to RCO News Agency, based on this report, the said brigade will include Swedish and Norwegian military personnel and will be subordinate to the NATO headquarters, which is supposed to be established in the city of “Mikeli” in Finland, about 140 kilometers from the Russian border. It is expected that this decision will be officially announced in the coming weeks.

On Wednesday, Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakanen said Helsinki was in talks with several NATO allies to host their troops on Finnish soil.

For years, Moscow has opposed the continued expansion and military strengthening of NATO near its borders. In an interview with Tucker Carlson, a well-known American journalist, in early February, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow does not intend to attack any NATO member country. Putin added that NATO countries are trying to scare their people with the imaginary threat of Russia.

At the same time, Sputnik reporter published images from the “FlightRadar24” website and wrote that a group of American reconnaissance planes are flying near the Black Sea and Crimea, and when such a cluster appears at the same time, usually nothing good happens.

Finland is the newest member of NATO, and after joining this military alliance, which was sparked after Russia’s special military operations in Ukraine, it has conducted maneuvers with allies and increased border measures with Russia. Finland shares a 1,340 km border with Russia.

Western countries established NATO in 1949 as a tool for collective security against the Soviet Union and its allies. But for more than 70 years, 2 European countries – Finland and Sweden – refused to join the alliance, instead following strict Cold War policies of neutrality and non-alignment. However, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden both abandoned these policies and formally applied to join NATO.

Finland joined this military alliance as the 31st member of NATO. This is an action that will transform the security landscape of Europe and expand Russia’s border with NATO. Finland will also be protected under the collective defense mechanism known as Article 5.

Despite their stated neutrality policies, neither Sweden nor Finland were ever completely neutral. During the Cold War, NATO cooperated with Stockholm, and Sweden allowed NATO flights to use its airspace and quietly cooperated in other actions. But after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the situation really changed. Sweden and Finland quickly abandoned their claims of neutrality, preferring instead to remain militarily noncommittal; A more specific term referring to military alliances rather than political partnerships.

Sweden and Finland have modern armies and equipment compatible with NATO systems. Finland finalized the purchase of 64 F-35 fighter jets from the American company Lockheed Martin in early 2022, before the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Finland has already met NATO’s military spending target of 2 percent of its annual economic output, compared to Sweden’s 1.4 percent.

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