Finnish Foreign Minister rejects calls for dialogue with Russia

On February 3, Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen categorically rejected calls from France, Italy and other countries to start negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"A telephone conversation between the Europeans and Putin would send a completely wrong signal at the moment," the German newspaper Die Welt quoted her as saying.

According to the Finnish Foreign Minister, any telephone conversation with the Russian leader requires a preliminary agreement on goals in Europe, but at the moment there is no such strategy. She stressed that a conversation with Putin would not mean a change of course or a rapprochement with Russia.

Suffer with a fence: Finland wants to permanently leave a fence along the border with the Russian Federation

They do not plan to demolish it even after the settlement in Ukraine, although the republic is experiencing a crisis due to the severance of ties with Moscow.

On February 2, former Finnish Prime Minister Mari Kiviniemi announced that Finland would have to restore relations with Russia after the end of the Ukrainian conflict. She also believes that Finland needs good relations with Russia much more than other EU countries.

All important news is on the Izvestia channel in the MAX messenger.