The meeting includes discussions on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and European security.

President Sauli Niinistö will attend a meeting of Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) leaders in Riga on Monday, December 19.
The topics of discussion will be Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and European security. Representatives from all ten countries involved in JEF defense cooperation have been invited to the meeting, which will be hosted by Krišjānis Kariņš, the prime minister of Latvia, and Rishi Sunak, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, which leads the JEF cooperation.
Before the JEF meeting, President Niinistö’s program also includes a bilateral meeting with President Egils Levits of Latvia.
The previous meeting of JEF leaders was held in London in March 2022.
JEF is a UK-led multilateral framework for defense cooperation formed by ten countries: in addition to the United Kingdom and Finland, the group includes the Netherlands, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Estonia.
The goal is to develop the military capabilities of the participating countries through joint exercises, prevent various crises and, if necessary, act together in crisis situations. JEF’s main operating environment is Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea region.