Editorial | As a NATO partner, Sweden is important and the United States is the most important

OFato pushes the defense of Northern Europe to new positions so that it starts to be visible to Finns as well.

All the Nordic countries are coordinated in the NATO command structure under the Norfolk Joint Operations Command, located in the United States. The whole is not ready yet, because Norfolk needs to be reinforced with officers coming from NATO countries. Finland will send 20–30 officers to Norfolk.

In Finland, NATO will establish a land power command ladder operating under Norfolk.

The combination of letters FLF has also received a lot of attention in Finland throughout the summer. The abbreviation comes from the words Forward Land Forces. It is about the fact that ground forces soldiers from other NATO countries are coming to Finland.

There are similar arrangements for the presence of NATO forces in other countries on NATO’s eastern border, but the Finnish model will be slightly different. The reasons for customization are both military and political. In Finland, there is still a desire to try to convey to Russia that there will not be permanent NATO troops in Finland, but that the troops will be on a rotating basis, albeit of a permanent nature.

Military presence costs money. It was visible in the government’s recent budget rush, where additional funding of 67 million euros was directed to building NATO’s presence. The number of troops is changed according to the security situation, which is also financially understandable.

OFat ato, Finland and Sweden are hand in hand. The chain also includes Norway. The countries form a common strategic entity, where the defense of one requires the others.

Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström, who is leaving his post unexpectedly, said at the end of August when he visited the Finnish Ambassadors’ Day that Sweden plans to participate in the FLF troops coming to Finland. It also has historical symbolic value.

The role of the so-called framework state in the FLF troops coming to Finland would also be natural for Sweden. Participating in the FLF forces would visibly bind Sweden to the defense of Finland, even though Sweden has already announced that it will also send a force of around six hundred soldiers to Latvia.

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The role of a framework state would be natural for Sweden.

Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen (KOK) has said that Finland is discussing with the United States the presence of Americans in the FLF forces.

A certain number of American soldiers also come to Finland through the bilateral defense cooperation agreement between Finland and the United States. It is the most significant signal that Finland can send to Russia – without underestimating the deterrent effect of Sweden, Norway or any other European army.

SFinland is a military front in the struggle for power. FLF forces are part of NATO’s military planning. NATO’s deterrence is based on US power and nuclear weapons. How the United States operates in Finland within the framework of the DCA defense cooperation agreement still has its own course. Sometimes the tracks also cross.

The commander of NATO’s European forces comes from the United States. The United States does not submit its own military planning to NATO, but the United States has its own plans and capabilities.

At the moment, the most significant thing for Finland is how a completely new ecosystem of bilateral defense cooperation agreements with the United States is currently being built in Finland, Sweden and Norway. Direct cooperation with the United States does not depend on the consensus decisions of all NATO countries in Brussels. This is important in a real situation.

The strengthening of the US military presence in the North is the most important thing for Finland, even spiritually.

The editorials are HS’s positions on a current topic. The articles are prepared by HS’s editorial department, and they reflect the journal principle line.