After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, both Nordic countries abandoned decades of military non-alignment and joined NATO. Finland joined the alliance in 2023, and Sweden the following year.
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The region around these two countries, belonging to NATO’s northeastern flank, “is one of the most strategically important and environmentally complex territories in the world,” said US General Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Europe, in a distributed statement.
Sweden and Finland are on the Baltic Sea – a waterway used by Russian warships sailing to or from St. Petersburg or Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave.
Finland, which shares a border with Russia, also fought two wars with the Soviet Union during World War II.
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In 2024, NATO decided to establish new international military forces in Finland, named Forward Land Forces (FLF) Finland, which will act as a rapid reaction unit.
These forces, which began operations on Saturday, also include a Swedish battle group.
NATO has other similar land units in Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia.
