NATO ships arrive in Finland for exercises as tensions with Moscow continue to grow

Finnish officials announced on Monday that three NATO warships arrived in the country’s southwestern port of Turku to train with Finland’s navy – just weeks before the Nordic country is expected to announce a decision about joining the U.S.-led alliance amid increased fears of further Russian aggressions in Europe.

According to a statement from the Finnish Defense Forces, a minelayer from Latvia and two minehunters from Estonia and the Netherlands will train with two minehunters from Finland’s coastal fleet, Reuters first reported, Reuters reported.

The two-day naval exercise is scheduled to begin on April 28 and will prepare the Finnish sailors to take part in NATO response forces in 2022 – offering them training in “mine countermeasures and working in a multinational framework,” the statement noted.

Both Finland and Sweden have historically maintained close ties to NATO, but have stopped short of joining the 30-member alliance which was founded after WWII to counter the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Finland and neighboring Sweden are close partners with NATO but have shied away from joining the 30-member alliance, founded in 1949 to counter the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

On April 13, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said that her country would decide in the next few weeks about whether or not to apply to join NATO – an announcement that was met by threats by Russian President Vladimir Putin.  

Following Marin’s announcement, the Kremlin warned Western leaders that Russia would deploy nuclear weapons and hypersonic missiles to the heart of Europe if Sweden or Finland join NATO.

Russia’s Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev took to Telegram to warn U.S. and European leaders that, “there can be no more talk of any nuclear-free status for the Baltic - the balance must be restored,” CNBC reported.

Medvedev also noted that Russia would be forced to strengthen its land, naval and air forces should any additions be made to the Western military bloc, adding that Europeans would have to get used to living with nuclear weapons close to home

Russia currently holds the world’s largest nuclear arsenal and is one of the global leaders in hypersonic missile technology, but Western leaders have started to question if Putin’s threats are empty. Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas on Thursday said that Russia has been deploying nuclear weapons to Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave since before the current crisis.

"The current Russian threats look quite strange, when we know that, even without the present security situation, they keep the weapon 100 km from Lithuania's border," the minister said.

"Nuclear weapons have always been kept in Kaliningrad ... the international community, the countries in the region, are perfectly aware of this ... They use it as a threat.”