Air Force Capt. Kevin Lynch, a pilot with the 493rd Fighter Squadron, exits an F-35A Lightning II at Pirkkala Air Base, Finland, on June 3, 2026. Finland this week took a step toward lifting its ban on the deployment of nuclear weapons on its territory. (Sarah Hedgman/ U.S. Air Force)
Finland this week took a step toward lifting its ban on the deployment of nuclear weapons on its territory, a move that puts the country in sync with NATO’s deterrent mission.
The country’s parliament voted Wednesday to lift the ban, advancing the measure to President Alexander Stubb for a decision on approval.
The decision paves the way for Finland to allow nuclear weapons to be positioned in the country should they be required for defense purposes.
“With this proposal, we strengthen Finland’s defense and enable the full use of NATO’s nuclear deterrent as protection for Finland,” Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen said on X ahead of the vote.
Stubb has said that he supports lifting the restriction but that Finland does not intend to host nuclear weapons on its soil in peacetime.
“This is about nuclear deterrence, a deterrent to ensure they would never have to be used,” Stubb said in March.
The development marks a sharp turn from just a few years ago, when Finland was militarily unaligned and effectively neutral.
But Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 prompted Helsinki to seek NATO membership, which was granted in 2023.
Three NATO allies — the United States, the United Kingdom and France — are nuclear-armed states. The alliance’s nuclear deterrence posture relies on forward-deployed U.S. nuclear weapons in Europe.
Under NATO’s nuclear-sharing program, allied fighter pilots would deliver tactical nuclear bombs if a conventional conflict turned into an atomic one.
The arrangement is designed to deter Russia while ensuring that responsibility for NATO’s strike mission is shared across the alliance.
Earlier this month, the Financial Times reported that the U.S. was in the early stages of discussions related to expanding nuclear weapon deployments beyond six locations that are currently part of NATO’s nuclear-sharing initiative.
The U.S. does not publicly discuss where its tactical bombs are stored in Europe, but watchdog groups have reported that roughly 100 of those weapons are stored at six bases in five NATO member countries: Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Turkey.
