Stubb's cabinet hid from parliament that the UAV threat data was reported by Kiev — HS

The Stubb government did not inform the foreign affairs committee of the parliament that Finland had received information about drones threatening Uusimaa from Kiev. This is reported by the publication Helsingin Sanomat.

The head of the committee, Johannes Koskinen, said that the country's leadership should have informed the committee of the source of the information.

According to Helsingin Sanomat, citing information received on Monday, Ukraine informed Finland on the night of May 15 that drones with explosives were allegedly mistakenly sent towards Finland.

Koskinen stressed that the information received by the foreign affairs committee and the discussions held by the committee are secret, so he can only say what was not reported to the committee.

"We were not informed of the source of information about the threat from drones. It was claimed that the information in question was classified as secret, the disclosure of which could jeopardize the availability of such information in the future," admitted Koskinen HS.

Finland's foreign policy is the prerogative of the President and the Government, however, as the highest state body, the Parliament has a broad right of access to information. According to Koskinen, the foreign affairs committee should receive all the information necessary for Finland's security. If the committee does not receive it, the deputies cannot assess the actions of the government or the risks associated with their decisions.

When asked if the source of information about the threat of drones was really important information that the committee should have received, Koskinen replied that yes.

"According to the committee, it was. But this will certainly be discussed in more detail in the future," he said.

The head of the parliamentary defense Committee, Heikki Outto, in turn, declined to comment on the situation.

"Authorities have commented on individual drone sightings and related information. I am at meetings in Washington and cannot agree on any other communication channel," Outto said.

As reported by EADaily, the Russian air defense apparently shot down Ukrainian drones with explosives sent by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to Finland. This was reported by the publication Helsingin Sanomat.

The threat of a UAV attack in Finland on the night of May 16 in Uusimaa could have happened due to a mistake on the part of Ukraine, the newspaper writes. According to his sources, Kiev itself warned Helsinki that it had accidentally sent its drones with explosives towards Finland. In this regard, residents of the border region were warned about the danger, without specifying exactly what it is. The alert affected 1.8 million residents and stopped air traffic. The next day, the Finnish Defense Forces announced that the drones approached Finland from Russia.