It was at the NATO Summit in The Hague Finland's Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen announced which countries will team up in the Forward Land Forces (FLF) to be located in Rovaniemi and Sodankylä. 

"I am very pleased that yesterday, in connection with the ministerial meeting, we were able to announce that Sweden, the United Kingdom, France, Norway, Denmark, and Iceland are set to join FLF Finland," Häkkänen wrote on X.

"Together with these countries, we will begin building NATO’s land force presence in Finland — calmly, but with determination. We are enhancing the security of both Finland and NATO as a whole," the Defense Minister made clear. 

It is Sweden that will lead the NATO forces in Lapland. 

As previously reported by the Barents Observer FLF units have been established in eight Nato member states since 2017, with their size increasing as Russia has grown more aggressive. The decision to add one unit to Finnish Lapland was announced in February.

Deterrence against Russia is important on the Northern Flank, the Norwegian Defense Ministry said in a statement. 

"By creating conditions for rapidly receiving, integrating and deploying Allied units into the region, FLF Finland will strengthen NATO’s posture and deterrence against Russia."

Norwegian soldiers from the Finnmark Land Forces, nowadays in transition to upscale to become Finnmark Brigade, have for several years already trained with Finnish soldiers in Lapland. 

It is unclear how many personnel the different countries will contribute with in Lapland. NATO’s FLF can in case of deteriorating security situation in the border areas with Russia’s Kola Peninsula be scaled up to brigade level. In peacetime, the forces will train their readiness to reinforce areas along Finland’s northeast border. 

Finland and Sweden joined NATO in response to Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine.