Finland, which is located in Northern Europe and borders Russia, has a new big move a few days ago. According to media reports, Finland said on 15 August that the newest NATO member will sign a defense agreement next week, allowing the United States to use the country's 15 military bases.
Finnish Defense Minister Antti Heikäkänen and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will sign the "Defense Cooperation Agreement" on the 18th. This means that U.S. troops can be used at bases in Finland and can be stationed to deploy military supplies. In addition, the United States signed a similar agreement with Sweden, allowing the United States to use 17 military bases in Sweden.
Finland is now part of the NATO bloc, opening its bases to the United States, in line with NATO's security regime, but this move poses a strategic threat to Russia. You must know that Finland shares a border with Russia, and if the US military deploys troops and weapons in Finland, it will deter Russia's security.
There are friends and enemies, and when Finland opened its base to the United States, Finland remained hostile to Russia. According to CCTV News, the Finnish government announced that it will close all border crossings on the eastern border from the 15th.
The reason given by Finland was that migrants from the Middle East had been found to have crossed the Russian border into Finland. Finland's interior minister, Rantanen, said that when the two border crossings opened, more migrants tried to enter Finland and that the refugee crisis was a "hybrid war" against Finland by Russia. Finland shares thousands of kilometers of border with Russia, and it is both the external border of the European Union and the eastern border of NATO. Finland believes that failure to close its borders poses a threat to Finland's national security. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Russia's use of energy, cyber attacks to undermine our democracy and now use migrants as a tool is another example of their attempts to put pressure on their neighbors, and NATO has expressed support for Finland's efforts to close its borders.
Finland's move shows that it is alienating Russia and drawing closer to the United States, in other words, Finland sees the United States as a strategic backstage and Russia as an enemy. You know, several of Finland's closed border crossings are located in the Gulf of Finland, which is the only way to enter the Baltic Sea, and after the closure, not only Middle Eastern migrants cannot enter Finland, but even Russians cannot enter and leave the Baltic Sea. The Russian enclave of Kaliningrad Oblast is located on the Baltic Sea coast, and Finland has closed border crossings, making it difficult for Russia to enter the enclave through sea lanes.
At the same time, Finland has created a strategic deterrent for Russia by allowing the United States to use its domestic bases. Finland is less than 1,000 kilometers away from Moscow in a straight line, and if the United States deploys missiles at Finnish bases, then Russia's core cities will be included in the range, and Russia will have to increase the deployment of border forces in case the United States provokes from the Finnish border.
Russia originally launched the Russian-Ukrainian war in order to block Ukraine's entry into NATO and prevent NATO from expanding eastward, but after its actions, it stimulated Finland, which joined the NATO bloc and expanded the NATO border to the east. Finland is actively opening military bases to the United States, and it seems that Russia's strategic energy is being drawn to the European region!