Photo: Global Look Press
The mayor of the Finnish city of Lappeenranta proposed a local airport for a NATO base, reports Yle.
Lappeenranta is a city and municipality in Finland, the administrative, economic and cultural center of the province of South Karelia, located near the Russian-Finnish border.
Chapter Kimmo Järva said that the NATO contingent can use the airport if they want. It was difficult for the official to provide details on the deployment of NATO forces, as he said he is not an expert on the matter.
At the same time, Jarva is sure that Finland's entry into NATO will “Give hope to South Karelia” and give local businessmen a sense of security and trust.
On May 18, Finland and Sweden submitted an application for NATO membership to the NATO Secretary General. Turkey initially blocked the start of the process of considering these requests, but on Tuesday representatives of the three countries signed a memorandum on security. Then Turkey withdrew its objections to the entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO.
According to the press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov, further expansion of the bloc will not bring more security to Europe. Putin himself said that Russia is not against the entry of these countries into the organization, but if the military infrastructure of the alliance is deployed in Finland and Sweden, it will be forced to react in a mirror manner.