A claim is widely circulated on social media about the new Defence Deal between Finland and the USA.
Social media users are claiming that US/NATO is building numerous military bases in Finland.
We found multiple users on the Facebook & X platforms who shared the claim. You can see their post screenshots below.
Fact Check
We dug deep into the viral claim by searching the keywords from the claim. We landed on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Finland’s Website. On the website they have mentioned the negotiations between Finland and the United States for a Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA) started in March 2023.
The ‘Q/A section about the DCA’ on the website mentions that under the Defence Cooperation Agreement (DCA), the US will not establish any military bases in Finland and use existing facilities and areas of the Finnish Defence Forces as agreed.
Furthermore, multiple media reports also mentioned that Finland will give the US access to 15 Finnish military bases. You can find below the links and screenshots of the media reports.
Conclusion
Hence, from the fact check, it is clear that there is no mention of the ‘building of military bases in Finland by the US’. Hence the viral claim is misleading.
DFRAC Analysis: Misleading
