OREANDA-NEWS  Russia believes that on the part of Finland, allowing the United States to use its territory to expand military bases means losing sovereignty. At the same time, Moscow is monitoring reports of such plans and is ready to "take military-technical and other retaliatory measures" in case of escalation, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

The Helsingin Sanomat newspaper wrote that Helsinki and Washington are discussing an agreement on defense cooperation between the two countries. If it is implemented, it will allow the US armed forces to use Finnish land and bases for storing military equipment and conducting exercises. There are no specific details about the agreement yet, but there is no talk of nuclear weapons in the document.

In early April, Finland became the 31st member of the defense bloc. The application was submitted after the start of Russia's military operation in Ukraine.