Finland Joins France's "Frontline Deterrence" Program

According to a report by Reference News Network on September 17, Agence France-Presse reported on September 14 that Finland has decided to join the "Frontline Deterrence" program proposed by France, becoming the tenth European partner country to participate in this initiative launched by Emmanuel Macron earlier this year.

In a joint statement released on the 14th, the two countries announced that "a nuclear guidance group will be established in the coming months to initiate this cooperation."

France is the only country in Europe, aside from the United Kingdom, that possesses nuclear weapons, and the "Frontline Deterrence" program aims to unite other voluntarily participating European countries, primarily through exercises and strategic consultations, but it will not involve sharing final decision-making authority.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb said at a press conference in Helsinki: "This means we are diversifying our defense and deterrence. If you ask us what our main nuclear umbrella is, it remains NATO, more specifically, the U.S. nuclear umbrella. Therefore, this adds value to our own defense planning."

The joint statement praised this as "an important step for European security and bilateral cooperation," and "will provide opportunities for strategic signaling and managing the escalation of conflicts below the nuclear threshold." Stubb emphasized: "In peacetime, no nuclear weapons will be deployed on Finnish territory."

This announcement came within the framework of a new bilateral strategic partnership agreement signed by the foreign ministers of the two countries in Helsinki.

Matti Pesu, a researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, commented that after the announcement, "Moscow is likely to express dissatisfaction verbally, describing these measures as aggressive and threatening."

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov responded by saying that, "to be honest," he does not "fully" understand the concept of "Frontline Deterrence."

He said at a daily news briefing: "I still need to understand some details. Therefore, I will not make any comments."

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot told Agence France-Presse that "Frontline Deterrence" does not have a specific target. (Translated by Zhao Kexin)