The President of the Republic has approved the proposal" - the announcement on the website of the Finnish Government stated clearly. The government also said that the new regulations will take effect from July 1.
According to the new law, Finland will be allowed to import, transport, transit, supply and store nuclear weapons.
The Finnish Parliament approved the lifting of the ban on nuclear weapons earlier this month.
In early June, Finnish Defense Minister Antti Hakkanen said that the complete ban on nuclear explosives from the Cold War era is no longer suitable for the country's new role in NATO.
Before the vote in Parliament, Mr. Hakkanen emphasized that the amendment would "allow full use of NATO's nuclear deterrence capabilities".
The latest move comes 3 years after Helsinki abandoned its decades-long military neutrality policy and joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Finland's accession to the US-led military alliance has increased tensions with Russia, a country with a border of about 1,340km with Finland.
Moscow has warned Helsinki since the beginning of this year about lifting the nuclear ban. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that this move could "lead to an escalation of tensions on the European continent".
By deploying nuclear weapons on its territory, Finland is beginning to create a threat to us. And if Finland threatens us, we will take appropriate measures," Mr. Peskov said.
Russia also described Finland's decision as an act of "focused confrontation". The Russian Embassy in Helsinki warned that even the possibility of "theoretical" nuclear weapons appearing on Finnish territory would be considered by Russian military planners.
On June 24, Russia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva Gennady Gatilov warned that Russia would consider the deployment of nuclear weapons near its borders, whether in Finland or Poland, as a "direct threat" requiring commensurate countermeasures.
Will that increase security for the NATO countries involved? I really doubt that," the Russian diplomat told RIA Novosti news agency.
