Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work welcomed his counterpart from Finland to the Pentagon today, where the two defense leaders discussed a range of issues.
Navy Lt. Cmdr. Courtney Hillson, a spokeswoman for Work, said in a statement that the deputy secretary and Finnish Permanent Secretary of Defense Arto Raty discussed Russian aggression, Russian involvement in Syria, Work's trip to the High North and his participation in the Nordic deputy defense ministers meeting in September, and the bilateral security cooperation relationship between the United States and Finland.
The two also exchanged views on how the Syrian crisis will affect the flow of refugees from the Middle East to Europe, Hillson said.
Work commended Finland’s contributions to the effort to counter the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Hillson said. “Additionally,” she said, “the leaders exchanged insights on how to sustain robust military capabilities in fiscally constrained times and noted the strategic, operational, and tactical benefits of defense cooperation for both nations.”
The deputy secretary also thanked Raty for Finland's continued bilateral and multilateral cooperation in a changing European and global defense environment, Hillson said.