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Finland adheres to demilitarized status of Aaland islands

Xinhua, September 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila said Wednesday that Finland respects the agreements on the Aaland islands and does not consider alteration of the demilitarized status of the islands.

Sipila made the remarks during a meeting of the five Nordic prime ministers on the Aaland,Finnish national broadcaster Yle reported. The autonomous islands belong to Finland and are located in the Baltic Sea between Finland and Sweden.

There has been some speculation about the status of defence of the Aaland islands following recent measures of Sweden to beef up defence of its Gotland island in the southern Baltic. There is no international agreement restricting the Swedish military presence in the Swedish island.

The Aaland islands have been demilitarized since the end of the 1856 Crimean war when Russia fought against Britain, Turkey and France. The status was later affirmed through treaties with several countries of the Baltic basin.

In case of a war situation, Finland is allowed to bring in troops to the islands and defence of the islands is part of the Finnish contingency plan, although the treaties envisage that Aaland would be kept out of military operations even during a conflict.

Sipila also said the five prime ministers defined as a joint goal to make the Nordics into "the most integrated economic zone in the world".

The prime ministers discussed also the future of the temporary border inspections adopted last year in the wake of the influx of asylum seekers. The temporary authorization of border controls by the European Union expires in November.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said "nothing indicates that controls could be given up", and Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said Sweden would consider during the autumn whether it will ask for an extension of the special authorization. Endit