EU sets up ‘nuclear’ stockpile in Finland to respond to chemical and nuclear emergencies

New Delhi: With an aim to secure its members from any potential chemical or nuclear threats, the European Commission on Tuesday announced that it is setting up its first “strategic reserve” for atomic and chemical emergency response in Finland.

Finland shares a 1,300-km border with Russia and is located close to the Baltic states, which fear an escalation of the war in Ukraine could lead to the use of nuclear weapons or to a nuclear accident.

“The conflict in Ukraine has confirmed the need to set up the stockpile, which will provide the EU with a significant safety net enabling a quick and coordinated response at EU level,” EuroNews quoted European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic as saying.

The new reserve will include critical medical counter-measures including vaccines and antidotes, medical devices and field response equipment needed to respond to biological, radiological and nuclear accidents.

A total of €242 million ($261 million) has been allocated to Finland by the European Commission to create the bloc’s first strategic reserve against chemical, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) threats for use by all member states.

“Individual countries do not have sufficient measurement capacity and expert resources to respond to large-scale radiation accidents,” EuroNews quoted Karim Peltonen, director of Finland’s Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, as saying.

According to EU officials, their objective is to ensure that response teams and capabilities may be sent anywhere on the continent.

While locating the depot in Finland may seem baffling in that context, Finnish Interior Minister Krista Mikkonen said this will enable the EU “to respond to different kinds of threats, especially in Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea region.”

Long neutral, Finland became an EU member in 1995 and applied for NATO membership last year. Authorities in Helsinki have strongly supported Kiev in the conflict with Moscow, alongside Warsaw and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

After a series of losses in eastern Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin had issued an ambiguous yet ominous threat to use a nuclear weapon. “If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will without a doubt use all available means to protect Russia and our people,” he had said in a nationally televised speech. “This is not a bluff,” he added.

While this was seen as a threat by certain Western politicians, Putin later explained that Moscow would only use atomic weapons in response to the use of nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction against Russia or its allies.

With inputs from agencies

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