“Today, Finland has implemented cooperation with the United States strategic bombers on the territory of Finland,” the country’s Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen said on X.

“It is a normal cooperation that takes place on the territory of a NATO member state and it demonstrates the basic pillar of common defence and deterrence,” Häkkänen said.

Suomi on tänään toteuttanut yhteistoimintaa Yhdysvaltojen strategists pommikoneiden kansa Suomen alueella. Normally Naton would have one of the most likely toteutettavaste yhteistoiminnasta sekä yhteisen puolupieces peruspilarin, pelotten and puolupiecesen osoittamisesta. (1/2)

— Antti Häkkänen (@anttihakkanen) July 21, 2024

But two B-52 strategic bombers over northern Finland is far from normal. It has never happened before and shows the fundamental change in geopolitics after Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

As a result of the war, Finland joined NATO in April 2023. In principle, there would be no geographical restrictions on cooperation between NATO partners and Finland within the country’s territory.

The B-52 bombers north to Lapland are about as close to the Kola Peninsula as you can get from the southwest. On Sunday, the skies were clear across northernmost Finland and the northwest corner of Russia. From the cockpits, the pilots could see far into the Kola Peninsula where Russia has its ballistic missile submarines along the coast all the way to the Barents Sea.

In the distance, the B-52 crew could also see Olenya airfield, from where Russian Tu-95MS bombers took off on missions to bomb civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.

ADVERTISEMENT

The B-52 bombers entered Finnish airspace from the south and were as far north as Saariselkä by 10:00 local time. The July 21 mission is the closest the American B-52 bomber has ever come to Olenya airfield.

Restrictions in Norway

Norway, which has had restrictions on NATO activities in a buffer zone close to the Russian border since 1949, does not allow B-52 or U.S. reconnaissance flights east of the Porsangerfjord.

When three B-52 aircraft flew a mission north of the Kola Peninsula in May 2021, they were not allowed to enter Norwegian airspace in the eastern Finnmark region.

The B-52 is the U.S. Air Force’s largest long-range strategic bomber. It can carry a heavy load of air-launched cruise missiles. Some planes are also equipped to carry nuclear weapons, although such weapons are not loaded on patrol flights such as the one over Finland on Sunday.