Russian Foreign Ministry summons Finnish ambassador over Helsinki-US agreement

Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday summoned Finland’s ambassador Antti Helantera after Washington and Helsinki concluded a defense cooperation agreement.

Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova warned that Russia would take measures to counter aggressive decisions by Finland and NATO.

"On December 19, the Finnish ambassador to Moscow was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry to be told that the Russian side will not leave unnoticed NATO’s military build-up on our border, which threatens the security of Russia, and will take the necessary measures to counter aggressive decisions by Finland and its NATO allies. The responsibility for turning the zone of good-neighborliness in this region into a zone of likely confrontation lies entirely with the current Finnish authorities," the commentary reads.

Zakharova noted that the agreement regulated quantitative parameters, transportation and deployment of US military personnel, their use of military bases, and storage of weapons on Finnish territory.

"It is noteworthy that the provisions of the agreement do not contain any restrictions on their  types, including nuclear weapons, which will be used for its implementation, as well as actually place the US military contingent stationed in Finland outside the Finnish legal space," Zakharova pointed out.

Earlier, the press service of the Finnish government announced plans for signing a defense cooperation agreement with the United States on December 18.