On Wednesday, Finnish parliamentarians approved an amendment to the Nuclear Energy Act, which abolished the long-standing ban on the deployment of nuclear weapons in the country. According to the POLITICO portal, this is a fundamental shift in Finland’s security policy, which is related to the deepening of Helsinki’s integration into the structures of the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO), reports TASR. 125 MPs voted for lifting the ban, 61 were against. This will allow Finland to receive and transport nuclear weapons on its territory as part of allied defense operations.
According to state representatives, the current legal restriction no longer corresponds to the country’s role within NATO. Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen called the move “necessary” for Finland’s security. However, he insists that the government has no plans to permanently place nuclear weapons on its territory. “This historic reform strengthens the security of Finland and NATO as a whole,” Häkkänen wrote on the X Network.
He said the issue had required years of discussions with allies and nuclear powers on how Finland could best strengthen its security within the Alliance. After the start of the war in Ukraine, until then neutral Finland, which shares a 1,340 kilometer long border with Russia, decided to join NATO. Earlier this year, Häkkänen declared that the restrictions on nuclear weapons that Finland adopted back in 1980 no longer reflect the geopolitical reality that Finland faces as a NATO member.
