Photo: Juhani Kandell/Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
President of Russia Vladimir Putin arrived in Finland for a working visit on Friday, 1 July 2016. President of the Republic Niinistö began the meeting with the words, “We wish you a warm welcome to Kultaranta.” “You last visited us here three years ago. We had beautiful weather on that occasion. While nothing has changed here, unfortunately things have changed in the outside world and not necessarily in the right direction. It is therefore important that we make progress in the things that are of benefit to the world. And you have a major role to play in this,” President Niinistö said.
At a joint press conference with President Putin, President Niinistö underlined the importance of cutting the spiral of mistrust in both the Baltic Sea region and Ukraine. “We are well aware that, in the Baltic States – and elsewhere – Russia is feared. And on the other hand, Russia views NATO as a major threat. In preventing the continuation of this downward spiral, the key word is trust, the ability to take at least short steps in another direction – that of restoring trust,” President Niinistö said at the joint press conference between the presidents.
No flights without transponders
As an example, President Niinistö referred to flying without transponders and a small step in the right direction in that regard: “I have proposed that, in the Baltic Sea region, we seek a general agreement to use transponders; that no flights are made without them.” President Putin welcomed the proposal and stated that Russia will take the issue to the next meeting of the Nato-Russia Council.
With respect to the situation in Ukraine, the President stated that the fulfilment of the Minsk agreement would be important. There we have a “zero progress spiral”, since the political package can make no headway without the security package and vice versa. “I have now come to understand that strongly grounded – and hopefully successful – efforts are being made to maintain the ceasefire. From there, perhaps a step at a time can be taken forwards in both respects.”
President Niinistö said that economic relations between Finland and Russia have suffered and the international economic cycle is probably the main reason for this. “But there is enough scope beyond these constraints to restore that international business cycle to some sort of equilibrium.”
The presidents continued their discussion of economic relations over a working dinner, which was also attended by Minister of Economic Affairs Olli Rehn and Minister of Agriculture and the Environment Kimmo Tiilikainen, as well as the Minister of Natural Resources and Environment of Russia, Sergei Donskoi, and Russia’s Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Lihatšov.
Video: Joint press conference of President Niinistö and President Putin at Kultaranta
(Finnish-Russian)
Photo: Matti Porre/Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
Photo: Juhani Kandell/Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
Photo: Juhani Kandell/Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
Photo: Juhani Kandell/Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
Photo: Juhani Kandell/Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
Photo: Juhani Kandell/Office of the President of the Republic of Finland
Kuva, jonka Tasavallan presidentin kanslia (@tpkanslia) julkaisi 2. 07ta 2016 klo 2.05 PDT