Finland to place NATO base near Russian border

Finland will place a key NATO base less than 200 kilometers (125 miles) from its border with Russia, "sending a message" to its eastern neighbour, the defence ministry said Friday.

Finland became a NATO member last year, dropping decades of military non-alignment after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Defence Minister Antti Hakkanen said NATO's new headquarters for the Northern European land command unit will be in Mikkeli, one of the closest cities to Finland's 1,340-kilometre (830-mile) border with Russia.

"Finland is sending a message to Russia that we are a full member of NATO and that NATO has a very strong role also in Finland's defence", Hakkanen told a press conference.

The Finnish defence forces' army command is already located at the site of the future base.

"By combining the locations, we achieve the best possible synergy between national defence management and NATO defence management", Hakkanen said.

The military alliance's Multi Corps Land Component Command will operate under NATO's Norfolk command in the United States, which oversees the Atlantic and Arctic regions.

Hakkanen said the headquarters would be staffed by a few dozen people from different NATO countries.

In June, NATO defence ministers gave the green light for Finland to host the Multi Corps Land Component Command as well as the Forward Land Forces (FLF).

Details about the FLF -- NATO's rotating, multinational ground forces based in several countries on NATO's eastern front -- will be announced at a later stage, Hakkanen said.