A US Air Force reconnaissance aircraft carried out an observation flight in Finnish airspace along the border with Russia. About this March 23 reported Finnish edition of Yle.
The plane flew near the border from south to north, turned around near the town of Rovaniemi and took off again. The Finnish military said these observation flights would become regular.
“Flights with partner countries are planned and are part of normal cooperation,” the Finnish Defense Forces said.
The military department added that details of those flights would not be released. Yle notes that on March 23, the Flightradar24 service was able to track the flight of the American RC-135 Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft.
On March 23, Finnish President Sauli Niiniste signed the country’s NATO membership laws. On March 1, the Finnish Parliament voted in favor of joining the North Atlantic Alliance.
Finland and Sweden applied to join NATO in May 2022, in the context of the Russian military operation in Ukraine. To enter, the consent of the 30 countries of the alliance is required. So far, the agreement on Finland’s NATO membership has not been ratified by Turkey and Hungary. The Turkish authorities, in particular, accuse Stockholm of harboring members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which Ankara considers to be terrorists.
