The Finnish Parliament has approved amendments lifting the ban on the import and storage of nuclear weapons on the country’s territory. The measure is justified by the strengthening of NATO’s nuclear deterrence.
The provisions were approved with 125 votes in favor, 61 members of the Helsinki Legislature were against, and 13 were absent.
The Finnish press explained that according to the new provisions, the import, production, storage, and detonation of nuclear explosives will not be allowed on the state’s territory. Their use will be exclusively regulated by the country’s Penal Code.
The government justified lifting the restrictions by invoking the need to strengthen NATO’s nuclear deterrence, so that, for example, in case of war, an aircraft carrying a nuclear weapon could make an emergency landing in Finland, the newspaper explained.
In March 2026, the Kremlin, commenting on Helsinki’s plans to allow the import of nuclear explosive devices into Finland, writes forbes.ru. Dmitri Peskov then asserts that such a decision would pose a threat to Russia and “escalate tensions on the European continent.”
Reuters reported that Finnish President Alexander Stubb believes that the changes in the law will put Helsinki in a position similar to other Nordic countries. In his opinion, neighboring countries Sweden, Denmark, and Norway “have long had a policy of banning the deployment of nuclear weapons on their territory in peacetime, but have no legal prohibition in this regard in wartime”