Ukraine, Finland sign agreement on mutual protection of restricted information

Ukraine and the Republic of Finland signed an Agreement on mutual protection of restricted information, the Ukrainian president’s press service reported on Thursday evening.

"Ukraine and the Republic of Finland have signed the Agreement on the mutual protection of restricted information,” reads the report.

Also, some other important bilateral Ukrainian-Finnish documents have been signed in the presence of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and President of the Republic of Finland Sauli Niinisto.

“Today, our parties have signed an important document - the Agreement on Mutual Protection of Restricted Information. It creates new opportunities for security authorities to cooperate, in particular in the context of counteracting hybrid threats on the part of the Russian Federation,” Zelensky said.

The Agreement is aimed at creating a legal framework for the protection of restricted information, the exchange of which, if necessary, will be carried out between Ukraine and Finland.

The provisions of the agreement envisage the definition of competent security authorities responsible for the implementation of the Agreement, comparison of access restriction stamps, establishment of rules on the exchange of information with restricted access and requirements for granting access to such information, as well as the obligation of the parties to ensure the protection of information with restricted access and principles of its protection.

In addition, Head of the State Archives Service of Ukraine Tetiana Baranova and Director of the National Archives of Finland Jussi Nuorteva signed a Memorandum of Cooperation between the State Archives Service of Ukraine and the National Archives of Finland.

According to the provisions of the Memorandum, the parties will ensure equal rights of access of Ukrainian and Finnish researchers to the archival documents, promote the replenishment of the national archives with copies of archival documents kept in the state archives of the other party interesting to the researchers; carry out the exchange of experts; conduct joint research, exhibition and editorial projects, etc.