The USA and Finland signed the Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) on defense cooperation. This will allow American forces to be present and train on Finnish territory.
This was announced at a press conference by US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, Finnish Defense Minister Antti Gäkkänen, and Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen.
The US diplomat called it a historic step in cooperation between the two countries, also welcoming Finlandʼs accession to NATO.
"Joining NATO together with DCA gives us the momentum to take US-Finland cooperation to the next level," added Elina Valtonen.
The agreement also provides for the placement of US defense equipment in Finland. In total, the Pentagon will have access to 15 Finnish military bases. At the same time, Washington cannot deploy its permanent military base in the country.
Before that, the US signed defense agreements with Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Bulgaria.
- Earlier, Putin promised to create a military district along the border with Finland, expressing dissatisfaction with the fact that the country joined NATO and closed border crossings with Russia. Finland joined NATO in April 2023.