Finland to purchase more weapons from US

The US Department of State has approved a second arms sale to Finland within a month, helping Russia’s Nordic neighbour in its bid to strengthen its defences due to the war in Ukraine, Finland and the United States said.

After Russia invaded Ukraine in February, Finland’s government decided to grant an additional 1.7 billion euros ($1.77bn) to arms and other defence material purchases this year alone.

“A very significant share of it will go to [purchases] from the US,” Governmental Counsellor Iikka Marttila from Finland’s Defence Ministry said.