Finland has no need to keep U.S. nuclear weapons on its territory, Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said on Monday.
“This (the deployment of US nuclear weapons in Finland) is unnecessary because NATO itself provides a nuclear deterrent,” Orpo said in an interview with Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita.
He said nuclear weapons already deployed in several NATO countries are sufficient to deter potential threats.
The prime minister also noted that the Nordic country was “preparing” and would rely on “conventional weapons.”
In December, the Finnish government signed a defense military agreement with the United States to strengthen its defense in times of conflict.
Under the agreement, the United States will have unrestricted access to 15 facilities in Finland, including the storage of military equipment and ammunition.
However, the government nevertheless confirmed that the agreement does not override Finnish law prohibiting the storage and transportation of nuclear weapons within Finnish territory.
Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometer (830-mile) border with Russia, became the latest NATO member on April 4, 2023, after Russia launched a “special military operation” in Ukraine on February 24, 2022. It became a country.
The Nordic nation’s entry into NATO drew criticism from the Kremlin, with Russian President Vladimir Putin accusing the West of “dragging” Finland into the military alliance and creating a rift between Moscow and Helsinki.
The United States has been deploying nuclear weapons in Europe since the mid-1950s as part of its nuclear sharing program.