The United States has extended an official written invitation to Finland to participate in joint air force exercises in Estonia, the U.S. Embassy in Finland confirmed to Finland's STT news agency late on Wednesday evening.
US extends Finland invitation to joint air exercise in Estonia
22nd January 2015, 14:44
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The embassy's public affairs representative Jeffrey Reneau said the invitation does not yet contain details of the exercise but reaffirms an oral invitation made earlier, STT said.
STT was unable to get a confirmation from the Ministry of Defense or the Air Force Wednesday evening that the invitation had been received.
The issue of whether or not Finland will take part in the exercise arose on Sunday when Finland's leading daily Helsingin Sanomat said that participation in the joint air force exercise with the United States in Estonia in spring was causing discord among the country's political leadership, with Prime Minister Alexander Stubb and Defense Minister Carl Haglund in favor of sending Finnish planes to the exercise but President Sauli Niinisto and Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja opposing such prospect.
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said on Tuesday that Finland has not received an official invitation to take part in a joint air force exercise with the United States in Estonia and that the government cannot make a decision about participation until it knows what is expected of Finland.
The president denied claims that demands had been made for Finland to stay away from the exercise.
He noted that it remains unclear what kind of exercise is planned and what is expected of Finland until the official invitation arrives.
Finnish air assets have previously participated in NATO-led exercises in Estonia and the cooperation will continue, the president added.
STT reported that the U.S. embassy said an oral invitation for Finland to participate in the exercise had been issued by a high-ranking U.S. officer in November last year but had not been officially confirmed in writing. The joint air exercises are scheduled to take place in Estonia in March and April.