UK to support Finland, Sweden without big formal deal: Wallace

Britain’s Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace on Wednesday said that Britain's support for Finland and Sweden would come without any big formal agreement.

Speaking at a joint press conference after a meeting with Defence Minister Antti Kaikkonen in Helsinki Wallace said it would be inconceivable that Britain would not defend Finland and Sweden if either of the countries were attacked, whether they had joined NATO or not, reported national broadcaster Yle.

At their meeting, the ministers discussed bilateral defence relations, the situation in Ukraine and the JEF cooperation. Finland joined the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) in summer 2017.

Earlier, the defence ministers familiarised themselves with the Arrow 22 exercise in Pohjankangas, Niinisalo.

Arrow 22 is the Mechanised Exercise of the Army where in addition to the national forces, troops from the United Kingdom, Latvia, the United States and Estonia took part. The Armoured Brigade led the exercise.