US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed his hope that Sweden will complete its NATO accession process soon. The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the Finnish Ambassador to Moscow.
The United States and Finland signed a defense cooperation agreement – the Defense Cooperation Agreement (DCA) on Monday, December 18. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Finnish Defense Minister Antti Gäkkinen and Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen announced this at a press conference.
It is stated that such an agreement simplifies military cooperation and training between the two countries; Once signed, U.S. military forces will be able to stay and train in Finland, and the movement of troops and equipment will not require the same high level of approval. as before.
Additionally, as stated by the signatories, the document specifies 15 regions to be used by US military personnel. There are also separate facilities where these will be available only to the US (there are 17 of these in the Swedish agreement, 4 in the Norwegian agreement).
Important
As Antony Blinken noted before the signing, Finland’s accession to NATO has strengthened the Alliance. He emphasized that last year was a historic year for cooperation between Helsinki and Washington.
Additionally, the US Secretary of State expressed his hope that Sweden will complete this process soon.
Before that, the USA signed defense agreements with Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary and Bulgaria.
Kremlin’s reaction
After the signing of the DCA, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs summoned the Finnish Ambassador to Moscow. They stated that Russia would take measures against the “aggressive decisions” of Finland and NATO.
Previously, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Finland may have problems with the Russian Federation after joining NATO. He also announced the establishment of the Leningrad Military District.
Let us recall that Russian President Vladimir Putin accused NATO of allegedly creating conflict despite Moscow’s reluctance to sour relations.
Russia’s permanent representative to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, said Ukraine had lost the chance to sign a “useful peace agreement”. According to him, such an agreement is now possible only if Kiev surrenders.
Source: Focus
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