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Finland plans to lift its long-standing ban on having nuclear weapons on its territory, in a move the government says would align the country more closely with Nato’s deterrence policy.<\/p>\n
Defence minister Antti H\u00e4kk\u00e4nen Finland and Europe’s security environment had “fundamentally and significantly changed” since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in 2022.<\/p>\n
The Nordic nation abandoned decades of military neutrality to join Nato in 2023 over mounting concerns about the threat posed by Russia.<\/p>\n
Under Finland’s 1987 Nuclear Energy Act, the import, manufacture, possession and detonation of nuclear explosives is prohibited on Finnish soil – even during wartime.<\/p>\n
The government proposal would change that, making it possible to “bring a nuclear weapon into Finland, or to transport, deliver or possess one in Finland, if it is connected to the military defence of Finland”, H\u00e4kk\u00e4nen said.<\/p>\n
“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,” he told a news conference on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Nato’s founding principle of collective defence<\/a> – that an attack on one member nation would be treated as an attack on all – underpins the alliance’s nuclear deterrence stategy.<\/p>\n As it contains several nuclear powers, this means a direct attack on a member brings with it the risk of a nuclear response. US nuclear weapons are stationed in several European nations, according to the Center for Arms Control and Non-proliferation.<\/p>\n The Finnish government’s proposal requires changes to both the country’s Nuclear Energy Act and the criminal code.<\/p>\n Its governing right-wing coalition, which holds a majority in parliament, said the proposal had been circulated for consultation until 2 April before it is formally laid out.<\/p>\n Finland shares a 1,340km (832-mile) border with Russia – the longest of any EU or Nato member state – and its leaders have repeatedly warned that the country’s security environment had deteriorated since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n The Nordic nation became the 31st member of Nato in April 2023, widely seen as a strategic setback for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had long criticised the military alliance’s eastward expansion. Its neighbour Sweden joined Nato in 2024.<\/p>\n Since then, Nato has increased its military presence in the Arctic and Baltic Sea, as well as along the newly expanded eastern flank.<\/p>\n The proposal comes as European countries step up defence co-operation in response to the war in Ukraine and broader global instability.<\/p>\n