HELSINKI, June 6 (Xinhua) -- NATO's Forward Land Forces Finland (FLF Finland) was officially established on Saturday, with a Swedish battalion-sized battlegroup serving as its core, Finland's Ministry of Defence said.
Finnish Defence Minister Antti Hakkanen described the deployment as "a significant step" in strengthening Finland and the northern flank of the alliance.
According to the ministry, the core of FLF Finland is a Swedish battlegroup of around 600 soldiers based in Boden, northern Sweden. The battlegroup will operate under a Rovaniemi-based multinational staff element.
Rovaniemi, the capital of Lapland in northern Finland, lies about 250 km northeast of Boden. The two locations form part of NATO's emerging defense corridor in the High North.
With the establishment of FLF Finland, the Swedish battlegroup and the multinational staff element were transferred under the command of NATO's Supreme Allied Commander Europe.
The Finnish ministry said the battlegroup demonstrated its ability to transfer rapidly from Boden to Finland during the Cold Response 26 exercise earlier this year. In the future, FLF Finland is planned to regularly scale up from a battalion-sized battlegroup to a brigade-sized unit.
Britain, France, Italy, Denmark and Iceland have announced their participation in the development of FLF Finland. Norway has also expressed its intention to contribute to FLF Finland, the ministry said.
