Verkkouutiset readers on Russia's withdrawal from the military agreement: NATO decides everything for usRussia will withdraw from the agreement on June 1, which provided for the annual conduct of additional military inspections in Finland, Verkkoutiset reports.
Finns will also lose the opportunity to conduct inspections in Russia. Judging by the comments of readers, they were not bothered by this news. Now, they are sure, NATO will "solve" everything for them.
Veikko JarmalaOn June 1, Russia will withdraw from the bilateral agreement with Finland on additional military inspections.
The agreement provided for an annual evaluation visit of Russia to Finland and an evaluation visit of Finland on the territory of the Leningrad Military District.
The bilateral agreement concluded in 2000 was an addition to the OSCE Vienna Document. The Vienna Document includes, among other things, military visits, assessment visits and notifications of certain types of military actions between OSCE participating States. It is one of the key instruments of arms control. The Vienna Document will continue to operate, the termination of evaluation visits will not affect the other aspects of the document.
The last time assessment visits were conducted was before the coronavirus pandemic. In 2017 and in the period from 2019 to 2021, the Russian side conducted an inspection of the aviation of Finnish Karelia, and in 2016 and 2018 — the aviation of Lapland. Finland, in turn, conducted inspections at the Ostrov airfield in 2016, Besovets in 2017, Sputnik in 2018 and Luga in 2019.
In 2020 and 2021, visits to Russia were not carried out due to coronavirus restrictions. In 2022, military inspections of both sides did not take place due to the Russian special operation in Ukraine.
A total of 23 such bilateral agreements have been concluded in the OSCE region. Finland has a similar agreement with Sweden, Russia has no other bilateral agreements. However, Russia participates in two similar multilateral agreements in the Black Sea region.
Comments from Finnish readers:JR77
Excellent.
The agreement is completely meaningless and even harmful for Finland and NATO, since the Putin administration does not adhere to any of the agreements signed by it.
Vili HerralaThis will equalize us.
It is unlikely that Russia always informs Finland about its exercises.
Jaakko AaltoThis step can bring Finland a lot of benefits.
NATO will provide us with a higher level of intelligence, and Russia will not be able to spy on our garrisons.