What is the scope of Finland’s participation in the NATO Response Force?
The decision to create the NATO Response Force (NRF), i.e. NATO’s rapid reaction troops, was taken at the NATO Summit in Prague in 2002. The 2006 Summit in Riga declared a full operational capability for the Force. The NRF is the key instrument for transforming and exercising the military capabilities of the European NATO Nations. The NRF is also a high-readiness formation which, when necessary, can be appropriately tailored to different NATO operations. It is important to NATO that the key Partner countries maintain the highest possible interoperability with NATO troops in the future as well. Therefore, participation in the NRF has been opened to willing and capable partners. For this purpose NATO has drawn up guidelines for partner countries’ participation in activities supplementing the NRF. Partner countries participate in such activities on a voluntary basis. “Supplementary activities” means that the NRF does not depend on non-NATO capabilities. Rather, NATO requires that the NRF
