NATO to set up northern land command in eastern Finland

HELSINKI (Reuters) - NATO will set up a new land command in Finland near the Russian border next year, tasked with leading the alliance's land force operations in northern Europe in the event of a military conflict, the Finnish defence minister said on Friday.

Finland joined the NATO alliance last year, in response to neighbouring Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine that began in 2022, and is organising the alliance's presence on its territory.

"This morning, I have decided that we will propose to NATO to establish the command in conjunction with the Army Headquarters in Mikkeli," said the minister, Antti Hakkanen, following up on his June announcement that all NATO member states had given their political consent for the plan.

The centre, which NATO calls Multi Corps Land Component Command, will operate under the alliance's U.S.-based Norfolk Joint Force Command and jointly with Finland's own land force command that is already located in Mikkeli, about two hour's drive from the Finnish-Russian border.

Hakkanen, speaking at a news conference, said the unit would initially have an annual budget of 8.5 million euros ($9.5 million) and consist of a few dozen international officials.

Earlier this month, Finland and neighbouring Sweden, which also joined the alliance this year, said Sweden would coordinate visits of foreign NATO troops and international drills in northern Finland.

However, Helsinki is not looking for the same kind of permanent multinational force that has been deployed, for example, in the nearby Baltic countries, given the considerable size of Finland's own forces.

Speaking at the same news conference on Friday, the commander of the Finnish army, Pasi Valimaki, said the geographic scope of the new unit would be decided at a later date but initially it would oversee land force operations planning in the Nordic region.

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(Reporting by Anne Kauranen and Essi Lehto; Editing by Gareth Jones)