The Finnish Parliament (the Eduskunta) has approved Finland’s entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). It has done so with 184 votes in favor and only seven against.

Finland has the border with Russia longest in the entire European Union (EU) and the second in Europe, after Ukraine.

The measure had the initial opposition of several deputies members of the Alianza de Izquierdas (one of the five parties in the government coalition) who have asked to include in the law a provision that prohibits the storage of nuclear weapons and the establishment of permanent bases of NATO in Finland.

This clashes with the official line of the Government led by Sanna Marin, who is not in favor of including preconditions in the accession protocol so as not to limit the room for maneuver in the future.

The Finnish president, Sauli Niinistö, head of the Nordic country’s foreign and security policy together with the Government, did not advocate putting legal limitations either. “Let’s be clear: even if we do not impose any prior restrictions on our NATO membership, Finland has no intention of introducing nuclear weapons on its territory,” Niinistö said last November.

Construction of the border fence begins

In addition, Finland has already started the construction of a metal fence in the most vulnerable sections of its border with Russia. The idea is that it travels between 130 and 260 kilometers and the objective is to curb illegal immigration and an eventual massive arrival of refugees.

The works have begun in the border municipality of Imatra, in southeastern Finland, with the felling of trees and clearing of brush in a three-kilometre strip that will later include a road and a three-meter-high metal fence with concertinas and surveillance cameras. video surveillance.

A test section will be built there, at one of the busiest border crossings due to its proximity to Saint Petersburg, at a cost of around six million euros.