Finland to lift ban on hosting nuclear arms
PHOTO CAPTION: Illustrative photo — A U.S. Air Force B-52H Stratofortress preflight crew works in the cockpit before launching a sortie from Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base Darwin, Australia, April 3, 2018. (U.S. Air Force photo by Master Sgt. Alexander W. Riedel via U.S. Defense Visual Information Distribution Service (DVIDS))
HELSINKI, March 5 - Finland plans to lift a long-standing ban on having nuclear arms on its territory, the government said on Thursday, aligning with Nordic neighbours in a move that could open the door to deploying atomic bombs on Finnish soil during times of war.
Finland's Nuclear Energy Act, passed in 1987, prohibits the import, manufacture, possession and detonation of nuclear explosives on its soil, seen by some Finns as a clause that would benefit only Russia if there ever was a war.
While Finland maintained neutrality during the Cold War era, the country in 2023 joined the NATO military alliance in response to nuclear-armed Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine the preceding year.
"The amendment is necessary to enable Finland's military defense as part of the alliance and to take full advantage of NATO's deterrence and collective defence," Finnish Defence Minister Antti Hakkanen told a press conference.
The proposed change will next go to parliament where the right-wing coalition government holds a majority.
Neighbours Sweden, Denmark and Norway have long-standing policies against nuclear weapons on their territories in peacetime but do not have legislative bans during war.
NATO allies France and Germany announced plans on Monday to deepen cooperation with European partners on nuclear deterrence, marking a policy shift as the continent faces rising threats from Russia and instability linked to the Iran conflict.
Sweden's doctrine is to station no permanent foreign troops or nuclear weapons on its soil in peacetime, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson told reporters last week, when asked about the possibility of his country hosting French nuclear arms.
"If we were to find ourselves in a completely different situation, that particular formulation would not apply," Kristersson said.
Finland shares a 1,340-kilometre border with Russia and in 2024 signed a defence pact with the United States, allowing it to use 15 of Finland's military facilities and zones.
(Reporting by Essi Lehto and Anne Kauranen in Helsinki, additional reporting by Johan Ahlander, editing by Terje Solsvik and Aidan Lewis // REUTERS)
