Finland has lifted its decades-long ban on nuclear weapons, marking a major shift in the NATO state’s foreign policy.
The country, which shares the longest border with Russia of any NATO member, passed the vote by 125-61 in parliament on Wednesday, clearing the way for Finland to facilitate the movement of nuclear weapons on its territory.
Finland banned nuclear weapons under its 1987 Nuclear Energy Act, prohibiting the import, manufacture, possession, and detonation of any such explosives on its soil.
“This historic reform strengthens the security of Finland and of NATO as a whole,” the country’s Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen wrote on X.
Finland officially joined NATO in April 2023, just over a year after Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Earlier this year, Häkkänen argued that the country’s nuclear restrictions no longer reflected the geopolitical realities of a NATO member.
Finland shares an 833-mile border with Russia, and there have been several high-tension security incidents in recent years.
Just last week, Russia began construction on a new military base just miles from the border with Finland for the first time since the fall of the Soviet Union.
The base will have capacity for up to 6,000 military personnel, according to former Finnish intelligence.
