{"id":44333,"date":"2018-05-09T18:53:11","date_gmt":"2018-05-09T18:53:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/05\/09\/finland-sweden-and-us-sign-trilateral-agreement-with-eye-on-increased-exercises\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T23:25:59","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T23:25:59","slug":"finland-sweden-and-us-sign-trilateral-agreement-with-eye-on-increased-exercises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/flashpoints\/2018\/05\/09\/finland-sweden-and-us-sign-trilateral-agreement-with-eye-on-increased-exercises\/","title":{"rendered":"Finland, Sweden and US sign trilateral agreement, with eye on increased exercises"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2015 Finland, Sweden and the U.S. have signed a new letter pledging to increase the national security relationship between the two nations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The language in the agreement, signed Tuesday at the Pentagon by U.S. Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis, Swedish Minister of Defence Peter Hultqvist<\/a> and Finnish Minister of Defence Jussi Niinist\u00f6<\/a>, is nonbinding and largely involves big themes as opposed to steady deliverables.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But speaking to Defense News after the signing, both visiting ministers emphasized that this is a starting point for future strengthened relations, and that there will be a particular emphasis on increasing and planning joint exercises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need to work in a deeper way with exercises [in order] to develop interoperability. I think this agreement will make it easier for us to sit down together and plan for that sort of activity,\u201d Hultqvist said. \u201cSo I think this is a platform to develop different sort of activities that can make more security and stability in our part of Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Niinist\u00f6 called the potential for greater coordination and increased exercises the \u201cmost concrete and important part\u201d of the letter, adding that the discussions will have an impact as Finland prepares to host a major exercise with its partners in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here to read the trilateral statement.<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The three nations had previously relied on a series of bilateral agreements<\/a> tying each other together in loose ways. But the aggressiveness of Russia following the 2014 invasion of Ukraine has driven Sweden and Finland to look to create more formal ties with the U.S.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In comments at the Pentagon, Mattis praised the two European nations for \u201cproviding a steady anchor of stability in a region more tense as a result of Russia\u2019s unfortunate, unproductive and destabilizing choices from the Ukraine to Syria.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we speak together like this, we bring a tempering of anyone\u2019s aggressive desires, and I think that is the message here today,\u201d Mattis added.<\/p>\n\n\n\t