HELSINKI: Finland will place a key Nato base less than 200 kilometers from its border with Russia, “sending a message” to its eastern neighbour, the defence ministry said on Friday.

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

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2024