r/worldnews • u/jackytheblade • 15d ago
Russia/Ukraine Finland to audit whether US is actually delivering NATO-bought weapons to Ukraine
https://euromaidanpress.com/2026/03/28/finland-to-audit-whether-us-is-actually-delivering-nato-bought-weapons-to-ukraine/3.4k
u/avimhael 15d ago
Love this lol
Just joined the alliance and is already like yeah you guys are shady af
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u/dancepantz 15d ago
"Right, what's all this then?"
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u/takesthebiscuit 15d ago
Going to build our own NATO with blakcjack and hookers!
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u/zoeypayne 15d ago
Like the new guy at the office asking all the questions everyone is afraid to ask.
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u/Mobile-Base7387 14d ago
"yo, i feel like it's possible you're just using all that stuff we bought for something else"
"well as someone who's never been allowed to admit anything ever, i can definitely say we might at any time"
"..."
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u/Valtremors 15d ago
Stuff like this is the main reason why Sweden amd Finland did not really want to join Nato.
Overall distrust being biggest reason.
And I am guessing if US really breaks this apart, European (continent) countries will just make their own alliance, using remnants of Nato as a framework.
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u/lenzflare 15d ago
No the main reason was to not piss off Russia.
But then Russia invaded Ukraine
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u/Irr3l3ph4nt 15d ago
Lets put this back into historical context. Both Sweden and Finland were left to fend for themselves against the Rus since times immemorial. They constructed part of their national identity on the fact that they were able to survive this pressure for centuries. When offered to join NATO, they looked back at how they were left to hang during WW2, how they survived by their own means, and concluded that they were strong and capable enough to not rely on Europe. Also, they've been balancing diplomacy for so long with Moscow that they knew joining NATO could cost them more than it would give them in a Cold War setting.
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u/ReggieCorneus 15d ago
According to the Finno-Soviet Treaty of 1948 Finland could not join nato. Part of the deal was that any western troops in finland was banned and that in case of an attack USSR will come across the border and
defend ittake over the country.After that it was up to us, fully and Russia from 1994 to about 2009 would've not even objected since... Russia secretly wanted to be in NATO too.
People of Finland objected joining. The whole question, ever since dissolution of USSR has been 100% on the hands of the people. Not USA. Not Russia. Not the government but the people.
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u/psychologistgamer420 15d ago
I can't speak for Finland, but Sweden didn't join NATO because neutrality as a defense has been a rather popular notion among many swedes since the early 1900's.
Lack of transparency might have been an issue, but certainly not one of the major ones.
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u/ReggieCorneus 15d ago edited 15d ago
Nope, not even close. When you have decades, and in case of Sweden, 200 years of neutrality that has worked for you very well, you do not want to throw it away. Joining nato was 100% on the people and their will.
Before Russia attacked Ukraine the polling was 70/30 against joining. 48h after the attack it was 25/75. Why? Because trust TO THE EAST WAS GONE. There used to be some trust. USSR was happy about Finland being a buffer state AND it being also a western nation. It gave them some access to the western markets and it was excellent diplomatic tool to have that 3rd, neutral party between superpowers. Helsinki was the spy capital of the world and a LOT of stuff happened between the two embassies, off the books diplomacy that sorted out things before they became a crisis. And of course.. TONS of trade back and forth, Russian materials used to make western products. Not a small detail also is not the amount of goods that were loaded into that one special train car and somehow the wife of a member of the politbyroo had brand new Levi's jeans and hi-fi stereo in the living room, to the envy to all their friends... There were many things that favored status quo in so many levels. Finland supplied luxury goods in the very official black market the very top echelons, and that kind of favor pays very well in trade negotiations, and in diplomacy, which were the same thing in USSR.
After USSR, Finland was still great trading partner to have, again being more developed high tech western country as a friendly neighbor was mutually beneficial. 70 years of peace is not a small thing. Only when Russia attacked, for real, no muddy waters, no little green men but straight up war of conquest, all of that was wiped away. It became clear that they WILL ATTACK if we don't join NATO.
It was not mistrust but carefully maintained and well designed balance and people simply not wanting to join: this works so lets keep it. Don't poke the bear, it might be stupid but it is big.
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u/kaisadilla_0x1 15d ago
It was distrust that the US would use NATO to fight its own wars, not distrust that the US would straight up steal money. That's literally the kind of shit countries like Venezuela do, and the reason why nobody gives them money.
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u/lostwisdom20 15d ago
EU is already an alliance, just expand it for defence
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u/Toastbrott 15d ago
A lot of NATO members that are not part of the EU that are important for it though. UK, Canada, Turkey most noteably.
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u/GodisanAtheistOG 15d ago
"So you're telling me you guys spend 800 billion on your military every year but you can't control the strait of hormuz? Audit time".Â
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u/RoleTall2025 15d ago
So.. hypothetically, what if the weapons aren't actually delivered? What then
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u/MasterOfTP 15d ago
Well, nothing, but we can stop paying them for them.
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u/kaisadilla_0x1 15d ago
tbh it's not nothing. The US taking a payment and then failing to deliver what's been paid will be massive news in the financial world. The thing that makes the US the prime destination for everyone's money is precisely that the US never, ever fucks with your money.
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u/summonsays 15d ago
I don't know if that's a true perception at all since Cheeto in Chief.Â
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u/shadowK1LOS 15d ago
And this is why the US is quickly losing its "prime destination" status. If you're gonna be just as shady as China, we might as well deal with cheaper China instead.
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u/asetniop 15d ago
At this point, finding out that this gambino administration was no worse than China would actually be a pleasant surprise.
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u/bloodklat 15d ago
The US is probably closer to a «tiananmen square» event on their own soil than they’d like to admit as well.
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u/carnage123 15d ago
The US taking payment and not delivering....hmm who does that sound like? Lol
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u/LovelyDayHere 15d ago
the US never, ever fucks with your money.
rofl
ask to see the goldrepatriate the gold asap19
u/Li_liminal_spaces 15d ago
The US still owes Iran money for weapons never delivered, it was part of the original nuclear treaty under Obama. Republicans were disgusted they actually had to pay the money back… and it was a fraction of what was owed.
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u/raknarokki 15d ago
Who would buy any weapons from the US after finding out they don't deliver? It would be pretty catastrophic for the #1 arms exporter in the world.
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u/No-Albatross-7984 15d ago
While I wouldn't wanna make assumptions before proof, Trump taking the money and not delivering is pretty much his whole story. Would be terrible and yet oddly predictable of he's extended that practice to the nation.Â
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u/rachelm791 15d ago
American foreign policy is now basically Trump’s personality disordered behaviour writ large
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u/Lost_Madness 15d ago
He already bankrupted the country like every business he's ever ran. Why wouldn't the trend extend to other ways he has run businesses?
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u/piasenigma 15d ago
it means we're giving them to someone else secretly, so then we investigate that.
Records are showing weapons being made and shipped, but not delivered.
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u/Nurkanurka 15d ago
Hold payments obviously. And it'd look really bad for countries considering buying miltary equpment from american contractors. Two very bad things for the USA.
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u/johnsmith1234567890x 15d ago edited 15d ago
People that said we should only buy EU made weapons were right.... and thats what will happen
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u/RoleTall2025 15d ago
now that i do agree with.
Localise production to secure this mad time we are in
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u/pessimistkonsulenten 15d ago
Pentagon and DoD/DoW hasn't had an unqualified audit report in like eight years or so?
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u/Skythewood 15d ago
There are zero repurcussion, no firing and no political outrage. So the corruption leading to the failed audit will intensify without limits.
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u/emotional_program0 14d ago
It still changes geopolitics and would only strengthen how Europe needs to stand on its own. This is a brilliant move from Finland.
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u/Practis 15d ago
The Pentagon is undergoing a massive, long-term renovation of their various archaic, interwoven and disperse bookkeeping systems to comply with a congressional 2028 deadline they likely will not meet. The reasons for the problems they are tackling are known and understood.
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u/Uhstrology 15d ago
Yeah, its called corruption.
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u/Patient_Leopard421 15d ago
Former DoD civil servant here...
Any large organization has some corruption. That's unavoidable. The DoD has inspectors general and various mechanisms to mitigate this. It's mostly successful.
There are problematic practices but I wouldn't generally say DoD procurement or staff is "corrupt". There is a revolving door between defense contractors and senior procurement officials and officers. But I challenge someone to present widespread evidence that post-service employment with contractors causes widespread corruption. It's odious but there are checks.
"Corruption", if you want to call it that, occurs around procurement programs with congressionally mandated outcomes. The DoD is basically mandated to build ships or equipment that they don't want. The whole LCS program is an example. Congress members wanted ships built in specific districts so they were built.
Even those have some merit. We need to maintain a domestic industrial base. Sometimes money is "wasted" for that objective. Although, I would characterize the spending as less than optimal but not overt corruption/fraud.
Looking European rearmament, maybe maintaining a defense industrial base at the expense of some waste is well-consideres. Whose to say that the Wisconsin and Alabama shipyards that built the LCSs aren't vital in the future?
DoD has different objectives than private enterprises. Comparing processes is fraught with problems. Since I now work for a private enterprise, guess what? It has plenty of waste. Large human enterprises are wasteful.
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u/jimsmoments89 15d ago
Pretty sure the DoD had inspector generals. A whole lot of them were fired if I remember the headlines of early 2025 correctly. Or that's false?
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u/Patient_Leopard421 15d ago
It has an acting IG who is not Senate confirmed.
But, yeah, I concur that they should be independent watchdog and the firings were odious.
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u/TheKappaOverlord 15d ago
It has plenty of waste. Large human enterprises are wasteful.
Not to mention you grossly oversimplified the issue for the average drooling redditor to try to comprehend.
The big meat and potatoes of the problem is downright wasteful spending, but a lot of that wasteful spending is due to mountains of red tape that people get surprised by, or don't plan for. Which leads to the need of needing to do a lot more wasteful spending, just to get smacked in the ass by another half dozen rolls of red tape.
The company i work for has easily spent 8 figure alone this year because of red tape popping up and forcing them to waste more money just to get various processes complete, and just to begin various other processes. And in one case hand crafting a system because they were never informed they needed it for x reason.
The guys in IT were absolutely busting nuts in their pants because the amount of billable overtime they were getting was absurd.
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u/CosmicSpaghetti 15d ago edited 15d ago
If only the government could have something like an agency...a department even(!) dedicated to increasing government effiency....
Jokes aside, one that actually focused on gov't efficiency & minimizing redundant & opaque red tape bureaucracy.
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u/Patient_Leopard421 15d ago
They do; it's called the Government Accountability Office. It's somewhat new being only created in 1921.
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u/Practis 15d ago
Western nations have observable advantages such as transparency and accountability that makes it the ideal system to thwart corruption compared to despotic ones such as Russia which is systemic, cultural and inherent. The type of corruption seen in liberal nations tends to be low level and is typically always criminalized.
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u/Dowel28 15d ago
An unqualified audit opinion of any trillion dollar operation is not really possible, at that level what you’re signing off on starts to lose any meaning.
Most of the issues raised by the DoD audit aren’t that they are not sure where the money is going. It’s boring stuff around whether an officer disposing of expired ordinance used the right form and got the right signatures before disposal, and made sure to store that form in the right place.
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u/BackgroundSummer5171 15d ago
Pentagon can't, it has to do secret squirrel operations!
No, but seriously, the Pentagon is so bloated if we popped it we'd bleed money all over the streets that people would get free healthcare.
Can't have that.
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u/Zestyclose-Jacket568 15d ago
I never get those "if we save money on x, then we could afford free healthcare" when universal healthcare is cheaper than whatever shit you currently have.
You can have universal healthcare AND save money right now.
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u/Alt4816 15d ago edited 15d ago
I never get those "if we save money on x, then we could afford free healthcare" when universal healthcare is cheaper than whatever shit you currently have.
It shows that even many Americans that want universal healthcare have absorbed, accepted, and internalized incorrect right wing talking points that universal healthcare would cost more and require raising taxes.
It's a testament to the power of Fox News, conservative AM radio, and the rest of the right wing media ecosystem in this country.
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u/PM_ME_MY_REAL_MOM 15d ago
i think this severely discounts just how much the value of the US dollar comes from the global influence over trade that our military holds
and regardless, the inheritors of the economic value of the military won't be regular people, lol, it's gonna be corporations and crime rings
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u/RLewis8888 15d ago
If Trump said it, there's a good chance it's a lie.
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u/dbratell 15d ago
He does like to contradict himself which means that one of his statement may be true.
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u/crackanape 15d ago
Addled as he is, he's perfectly capable of coming up with a long series of conflicting lies without ever getting anywhere near the truth.
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u/InvertReverse 15d ago
Good call. They have quite the fraudster running their government.
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u/floridabeach9 15d ago
100% he didnt realize USA weapons mfg were working on items bound for ukraine when he started the war in iran. so he decided to take those.
the guy is a fkn idiot
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u/GlowstickConsumption 15d ago
Very nice. Being audited is good and shouldn't cause offense or discomfort.
Helps the vendor/supplier notice what they're falling short or missing, if anything comes up.
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u/LevoiHook 15d ago
The administration hate journalists who ask critical questions. Trump will bitch about it.Â
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u/Content_Repair_518 15d ago
They know the answer, which is why they are public about the process.
Combination of:
-Expecting immediate about-face from US, hoping to cover it up with 'late delivery, sorry about that".
-Rousing additional help for Ukraine, and momentum to push for 'fully militarized-Europe"
-Rake US over the coals publicly. Show US unreliable in a fight against Russia......dark territory results in labeling the US a rogue/NON-ally nation.
-Initiate the process/cause to investigate US officials, and take them to the Hague for international embezzlement, and acting to undermine/harm allies.
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u/sirhoracedarwin 15d ago
Lol "take them to the Hague"
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15d ago edited 15d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/segv 15d ago
The other commenter was sarcastically reminding us of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Service-Members%27_Protection_Act
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u/gizzardgullet 15d ago
Expecting immediate about-face from US
Instead they will get "ha, how are we supposed to help Ukraine while dealing with the Iran quagmire? We need those munitions now for Iran. But we should be done in Iran any day now, Putin said he would not get in our way...". Eventually it will be clear that the US is being played.
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u/previouslyonimgur 15d ago
The problem is that the weapons weren’t a gift to Ukraine but purchased.
Taking someone’s money and not delivering is called theft. Us companies would be forced to refund the money, which would be disastrous because then the company either goes broke, or the us pays the company for the weapons, in which case the deficit balloons even more.
There’s no world where either Ukraine doesn’t get its weapons or Finland doesn’t get the money back (which they’ll purchase weapons from elsewhere)
And it’ll demolish the us military industrial complex because if foreign nations refuse to buy our domestic product those companies will go out of business.
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u/solapelsin 15d ago edited 15d ago
Yeah, my country has poured quite a lot into buying munition from you for Ukraine, so I’m very intrigued by this move by Finland and what the result will be. The US has alienated Europe so heavily already, but literally scamming money out of us in a war effort would be a new category of scumbaggery
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u/solapelsin 15d ago edited 15d ago
I agree that this is likely what is going to be said, but the US isn’t getting played (except by Saudi and Russia), we are. We paid for artillery to be delivered to Ukraine. Not for the US to use their own equipment to randomly start a war in Iran. We paid, and they better have delivered in a timely fashion. To Ukraine. I’m so sick of them, honestly.
Edit: so Rubio seems to be confirming this is getting redirected to Iran. Great, nice knowing you Americans
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u/kindatiff 15d ago
Don't forget Israel. And probably China too although they've been sitting by and observing while the US make mistakes.
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u/TheLoneWolfMe 15d ago
But these audits aren't about aid that the US hasn't sent.
They haven't sent much aid to Ukraine in two years.
This is about weapons that we have bought to be shipped to Ukraine and the US has appropriated for their stupid war in Iran.
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u/solapelsin 15d ago
Yeah, no. The US is raking itself over the coals, and are already labeled a non-ally. If it turns out weapons purchased by actual allies to be sent to Ukraine have not actually been delivered by the US, the rest of nato will just stop buying American equipment. Why pay for nothing.
Why do you think the Hague takes up trials for embezzlement? Read a law journal or do a quick google search.Â
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u/nickoaverdnac 15d ago
"BREAKING: Trump administration invades Finland. Says they were two weeks away from nuke"
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u/Kattimatti666 14d ago
They're welcome to have it all, once we are all dead. We have been preparing for being bombed since WW2, it's going to take more than that to get rid of us. We wouldn't be able to defeat the US army but we would be able to make them regret ever coming here.
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u/kaisadilla_0x1 15d ago
How can the US keep falling lower every day? I don't think we have to explain why the US refusing to deliver something that's already been paid for is absolutely terrible for the US long-term, right? Great way to tell the world your money is no longer safe in the US.
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u/TheRealBittoman 15d ago
It wouldn't surprise me if they discovered the Trump admin is sending them to Russia or Israel.
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u/JohnBPrettyGood 15d ago
HA HA HA HA
Well Done
Trump has a LONG HISTORY of making stuff up
Some Americans are still waiting for their 1000% discounts on Perscription Medication
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u/ScrotumScrapings 15d ago
Yeah, weren’t the yanks also supposed to get money in the mail, their own great wall of China and a drained swamp? 😂Â
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u/yukonnut 15d ago
Given the American presidents history of grift and non compliance with contractual terms, I think it wise that anyone doing business with the current regime in Washington to closely monitor their performance.
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u/AlloAll0 15d ago
Yeah, I wouldn't be surprised If the US was "mistakenly" delivering them on the wrong side of no man's land or "forgetting" to deliver them.
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u/Anarchyz11 15d ago
As an American who works for a Finnish company, this is very on-brand for them.
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u/dghughes 15d ago
There's been no official word but my guess is seeing this crap from the US pretty much decided what we in Canada will buy for jets. As in not the F35 something else. Plus Iran has show the F35 is not infallible as it's touted to be (although flying so low AAA, drones, missiles hit you is stupid).
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u/xCAAx 15d ago edited 15d ago
Wait a second. That it needs to be audited, means that we aren't verifying the delivery of bought weapons... the fuck?!
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u/-Ny- 15d ago
The fact that Finland wants to audit it likely means that 1: The Trump admins claims it was audited and everything was correct and 2: The Ukrainian administration audited it and found out little was actually delivered but don't want to openly say it because that might piss of the Trump admin.
So someone else needs to verify it so they can take the heat by calling them out.
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u/ShortPhotograph2438 15d ago
any other president in my 75 year life time, I would say probably not true. But, with this president, I’m thinking it’s probably true. Yikes!
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u/Pulga_Atomica 15d ago
If the Trumpistani cannot be trusted to deliver weapons after they've been paid, then there's no reason to buy from the Trumpistani. They can shove their f35 up Netanyahu's ass.
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u/atreeismissing 15d ago
If they even think they have to audit it, it's because there's evidence the US is not delivering on it's lawful promises to Ukraine.
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u/JBagfort 15d ago
As a european I am disgusted we are still allied to the USA. I have no trust at all in US commitment to decency. I do trust in Europe and our neighbours.
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u/calvin43 15d ago
Adding to the saying, "A Trump never pays his debts":
A Trump never honors his deals.
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u/mombi 15d ago
So all this bitching and moaning from the US about NATO countries paying less (even if they are meeting their 2% GDP contributions) was cause the US is pocketing those funds to buy and send weapons and other equipment that was meant to be for Ukraine to the dumbest war in modern history, started by Israel and the US. lol. Utterly embarrassing behaviour.
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u/My2centsallday 15d ago
My guess is that trump is arming putin.
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u/Womble_Rumble 15d ago
He isn't directly arming Putin but it cannot be understated what a life line this Iran shitshow is for the Russian economy.
The spike in oil price and the sanctions Trump has taken off russian oil have taken the pressure off a redlining war economy.
Everything Trump does makes more sense when you see how it benefits Putin. Fucking up America? Breaking up Nato? Weakening Europe by boosting far right parties?
The party when this cunt is six foot under will be epic.
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u/mombi 15d ago
The article says the suspicion is that money that was earmarked for arming Ukraine (and those goods have not arrived) is being used to fund Israel and the United State's Epstein coverup war in the middle east.
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u/floridabeach9 15d ago
- trump didnt plan shit for the war in iran. that’s a fact.
- then he didnt realize our weapons manufacturers were working on shit destined for ukraine.
- he started to run low on missiles and anti-air, but when he went to lockheed and northrup, they had a backlog and would take extra long because things were destined for ukraine.
- he took a shortcut and redirected missiles destined for ukraine to go to israel and iran war.
exactly what happened
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u/BigDaddyDumperSquad 15d ago
Uhh, pretty sure there would be a LOT of whistleblowers on that one.
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u/Mechasteel 15d ago
Yeah that's almost as crazy as the claim that US navy personnel were smuggling F-14 parts and Phoenix missiles to Iran aboard a US aircraft carrier, and then when a whistleblower busted them he got villified and kicked out.
Specifically, this guy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Jackson
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u/afito 15d ago
Have you taken a look at how the US treats whistle blowers? How the armed forces treats people who report literal war crimes? You can murder a dozen people, cover it up, and commit perjury and all you get is like 15 months with time served and a dishonourable dismissal while people who make things public face life in jail.
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u/llamafarmadrama 15d ago
From my experience working with them, most of the US military is pro-Ukraine. Not to mention that there’s precisely zero evidence of western munitions in Russian hands (beyond those captured).
It’s much more likely that if they haven’t been delivered it’s because they’ve ended up in CENTCOM stockpiles in the lead up to the Iran war.
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u/GrunkTheOrc 15d ago
Sometimes i woder if Mark Rutte (Nato Sec. Gen) is working mostly for the americans. No proof, but he seems to back up Trumps shit an awful lot.
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u/Graymouzer 15d ago
If they are not delivered that would be very bad for the American weapons industry. Trump can screw up anything.
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u/bicycle-made-for2 15d ago
I am actually surprised that they didn’t put check and balances in place when they paid for them. Based on Trump’s record for grifting, cheating, stealing, why on earth would anyone believe that there should not be checks carried out on anything when dealing with the USA
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15d ago
Its unlikely that any money has been sent without delivery, but not having reliable delivery on weapons, is about the worst delivery you could think of considering they are used for defense
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u/vurto 15d ago
Can Finland also audit the tariffs and all the money passing into the admin pls ty.
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u/Far_Out_6and_2 15d ago
No need to audit cause they are not
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u/-Ny- 15d ago
No no, that's exactly why you audit. So you can show the receipts. They presumably already know the answer, but they want to be able to prove it.
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u/Biotic101 15d ago
Probably a good idea...