Finnish President Niinisto: the appearance of nuclear weapons in the country is unlikelyA discussion on the deployment of nuclear weapons in Finland took place at a meeting of the Northern Council, Uusi Suomi reports.
Judging by the statement of President Sauli Niinisto, after joining NATO, his appearance on the territory of the country is unlikely. But not all Finnish politicians agree with this.
Teppo Ovaskainen"Finland and Sweden have submitted model applications for NATO membership — that is, without additional conditions or requirements."
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto recalled this state line when members of Parliament asked him to comment on the recent discussion at a meeting of the Northern Council on the deployment of nuclear weapons in Finland.
Niinisto began his comment by saying that "the use of nuclear weapons could be the end for all of us." Then he began to talk about whether membership in NATO could mean the deployment of nuclear weapons in Finland. Recently, this has been talked about all over the world — including Russian propagandists.
Judging by the statement of President Niinisto, such a development of events is unlikely.
"I think that at the moment it is not timely for Finland to make such requests or receive such proposals. We will wait for joining the alliance and then we will see what happens next," Niinisto said in the Finnish parliament.
In accordance with the official line of NATO, no preconditions were set for joining the alliance. For example, the possibility of deploying a NATO base in Finland was not ruled out in advance.
The President of the Northern Council, member of the Parliament of Finland Erkki Tuomioja (Social Democratic Party of Finland) also spoke about the issue of the deployment of nuclear weapons in his opening speech in Parliament. "The upcoming membership of all the Nordic countries in NATO is unlikely to have a serious impact on the cooperation of the Nordic countries. I assume that the countries of Northern Europe, as a region free of nuclear weapons, will continue their activities on disarmament and against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction," Tuomioja said.
According to him, Russia's special operation in Ukraine had a negative impact on the activities of the Northern Council during the Finnish presidency. Tuomioja believes that, due to the fact that the situation in the world has changed for the worse, the Nordic countries should work harder to strengthen cooperation and restore mutual security based on trust.
"Russia's actions in Ukraine do not mean that our vision of the international order was wrong. On the contrary, now we must act more decisively to create a world order that does not accept wars, human rights violations and unsustainable development that harms the environment," Tuomioja said.
Views on the deployment of nuclear weapons on the territory of Finland within the government parties are now diverging. Prime Minister Sanna Marin (Social Democratic Party of Finland) recently stated that Finland should not set any preconditions when joining NATO. On the other hand, the deployment of nuclear weapons is "not something we would like to discuss right now," the Kansan Uutiset newspaper recently quoted the Prime Minister as saying.
MP from the "Left Union" Pia Lohikoski, in turn, recalled the law prohibiting the import of nuclear weapons to Finland.
"I do not accept nuclear weapons or NATO bases in Finland. As for nuclear weapons, there is already a law prohibiting the import of nuclear weapons into Finland. This was confirmed in parliament in the spring. In my opinion, Finland should make a clear statement that this law will remain in force in the future," Lohikoski wrote on Facebook*.
The Left Union refers to the law on nuclear energy, according to which "the import of nuclear explosives, as well as their production, storage and detonation are prohibited in Finland."
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