On March 20 Finland formally joined the Lithuanian-initiated project for developing the European Union Cyber Rapid Response Teams (CRRTs). The corresponding Declaration of Intent was signed by Minister of Defence of Finland Jussi Niinistö while on a formal visit in Vilnius.
“Finland is the 8th member state to sign such Declaration of Intent. It strengthens the EU efforts and capabilities in the common fight against threats in cyberspace practically,” Minister of National Defence Raimundas Karoblis said.
The Declaration of Intent has been already signed by Lithuania, Estonia, Croatia, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain, and Poland. It is an important step in seeking further cooperation on the Lithuanian-proposed project in the European Union Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) framework and a legal basis for the legal act that will follow and consolidate the commitments.
CRRTs of the participating countries are planned to join neutralisation and investigation of a dangerous cyber incident virtually and physically, if necessary.
Minister of National Defence Raimundas Karoblis and Minister of Defence of Finland Jussi Niinistö with their delegations also had bilateral talks Wednesday in Vilnius on the bilateral and regional cooperation in security and defence area, opportunities for Lithuania and Finland to enhance cooperation in the area of defence materiel, and issues on EU agenda.
Minister of National Defence R. Karoblis also praised the developing Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) and active involvement of all partners, including Lithuania and Finland, in working towards closer cooperation. R. Karoblis also stressed that participation in the initiatives of the Nordic and Baltic formats was particularly important to Lithuania.
In the discussion on the cooperation between the Lithuanian and the Finnish Armed Forces Minister R. Karoblis thanked his Finish counterpart for the excellent organisation of international Exercise Northern Coasts in 2018 which was a very valuable training event for the Lithuanian Navy.
The European Union Cyber Rapid Response Teams formation project
The Lithuanian-proposed initiative on the formation of the European Union Cyber Rapid Response Teams and on mutual assistance in cyber security area is one of the 17 projects approved in PESCO framework by the European Council in late 2017.
The Lithuanian initiative concerns formation of EU Cyber Rapid Response Teams that would rotate every six months and would be comprised of cyber incident investigation and other security institutions experts from the participating member states.
In total, 13 member states are involved in the project – Lithuania, Estonia, Spain, Croatia, Poland, Netherlands, Romania and Finland are participants , and Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, and Slovenia are observers. Several more member states have expressed a wish to join the creation of the international CRRTs in the future.
The Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO) is an instrument laid out in the Treaty of Lisbon, for deepening the cooperation in security and defence area for those EU member states that have military capabilities meeting higher criteria and are bound by greater commitments.
Defence and security cooperation of Lithuania and Finland
The Lithuanian and the Finnish Armed Forces are cooperating in various military exercises ad multinational operations. Finnish soldiers took part in Exercises Amber Hope and Saber Strike, Lithuanian soldiers trained in Exercise Northern Coasts organised by Finland. The Finnish Air Force joined the Baltic regional air training event BRTE as of 2012, the exercise was renamed as Ramstein Alloy in 2016. Finnish military pilots and aircraft have been taking part in it annually since 2012.
Currently Lithuanian and Finnish troops are deployed together to 7 multinational operations: NATO operations and missions in Afghanistan, Kosovo, and Iraq, EU operations and missions in Mali and the southcentral part of the Mediterranean, operation of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, and the UN-led operation in Mali.
Lithuania, Finland, and 7 more European countries take part in the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF).
Photo credits: Alfredas Pliadis (MoD)
