According to Haavisto, the statements of the Russian Foreign Minister on the sovereignty of Finland and Sweden correspond to Russia’s previous views.
Brussels
Foreign minister Pekka Haaviston (green) said it was positive that a “diplomatic track” had been opened with Russia last week.
“I personally think it will continue from here. It would be a great stupidity not to seize the opportunity of diplomacy. “
According to Haavisto, all the elements of danger still exist in the situation.
“It’s hard to predict what the moves will be in the next few weeks. This morning [perjantaina] already seen unfortunate cyber attack on Ukraine, which is a reminder that there are many other ways than traditional military that can confuse life and create pressure. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw more of this. ”
On Thursday and Friday, Haavisto attended an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brest, France. On Thursday, the ministers had a joint meeting with the defense ministers of the member states.
According to Haavisto, many may be disappointed that there are no concrete results from this week’s international negotiations on the security situation in Europe. That was to be expected from him.
“Very rarely can international negotiations get off to a good start in a week.”
Foreign Ministers The main topic of discussion at the meeting was obvious: the security situation in Eastern Europe, the demands made by Ukraine and Russia, among other things, to halt NATO enlargement. According to Haavisto, Belarus and the refugee forces still on its border also came up for discussion.
According to Haavisto, the speeches of “war and peace” were used at the meeting. For example, Poland, a close neighbor of Belarus and Ukraine, has spoken with concern about the threat of war in Europe.
Ministerial meetings hit an important week, with Monday the United States and Russia the Deputy Foreign Ministers discussed In Geneva, Wednesday was the meeting NATO-Russia Council and Thursday Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Permanent Council.
According to Haavisto, according to the information received from Monday’s talks, the talks proceeded matter-of-factly and went into detail. In Haavisto’s opinion, what was significant in the NATO-Russia Council was that it had been together for a long time.
“It has been frozen at Russia’s request.”
Haaviston according to the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrovin Friday’s comments that Russia respects the sovereignty of Finland and Sweden do not represent anything new.
Read more: Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov does not believe that Finland and Sweden will apply for NATO membership, but assured Russia that they will respect their sovereignty
“The statement is in line with Russia’s previous views on the alliance of Finland and Sweden, respecting their own decision-making power but praising what they call neutrality. I read this as being in line with the principle agreed in the OSCE on the right of countries to decide on their own position vis-à-vis military alliances, ”says Haavisto.
According to Haavisto, there is no pending project in Finland to join NATO. Haavisto says that Finland’s security policy is currently unchanged.
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