Finland became a NATO member last year, abandoning decades of military non-alignment following Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Defence Minister Antti Hakanen said the new headquarters of NATO's Northern European Land Command would be in Mikkeli, one of the closest towns to Finland's 1,340-kilometre border with Russia.
"Finland is sending a message to Russia that we are a full member of NATO and that NATO has a very strong role in Finland's defence as well," Hakanen said.
The command of the Finnish Defence Forces is already stationed at the site of the future base.
"By combining the locations, we are achieving the best possible synergy between national defence management and NATO defence management," he said.
The military alliance's land component command will operate under NATO's Norfolk Command in the US, which oversees the Atlantic and Arctic regions.
The headquarters will employ several dozen people from various NATO countries.
In June, NATO defence ministers gave the green light to Finland to host the Multi-Corps Land Component Command as well as the Forward Land Forces (FLF).
Details of the FLF - NATO's rotational multinational land force based in several countries on NATO's eastern front - will be announced at a later stage. | BGNES
