“Such a heavy iron curtain has never been seen between neighboring countries,” says Russian Ambassador to Finland Pavel Kuznetsov in an interview with Ria Novosti.
Russian Ambassador to Finland Pavel Kuznetsov assesses the fact that the relations between Finland and Russia, the country where they are stationed, have practically been destroyed in the tripartite Russian news agency In an interview with Ria Novosti. Parts of the interview have been published on Thursday and Wednesday.
“We can probably no longer talk about the deterioration of bilateral relations between Russia and Finland. We are talking about their complete destruction,” says Kuznetsov.
Kuznetsov did not mention Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine at all in the interview. According to him, Finnish politics has led to a catastrophic collapse in all areas of bilateral cooperation.
“It has caused long-term structural damage to our countries' neighborly relationship, which has been built with the hard work of Russians and Finns for decades,” says the ambassador.
Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen (ps) commented on Kuznetsov's views on Thursday by stating that Finland has only reacted to the situation at the border of the countries.
“Finland has not cut anything. Finland has only reacted to how Russia has acted on our border. When Russia's actions on our border change, we react to it. If in the future Russia considers that they will not let people to our border without appropriate identity papers, then that will be the best news,” Rantanen commented at the press conference in response to HS's question.
Kuznetsov in the interview, list things that used to work and now don't. According to him, these include political dialogue, business relations, geographical connections between the regions and cities of Finland and Russia. The border is closed and almost all traffic connections have been cancelled. Only the Vainikkala border crossing is open for commercial traffic.
“There has never been such an 'iron curtain' between our countries, not even in the 1920s and 1930s on the eve of World War II,” says Kuznetzov.
He characterizes The Finnish government's decision to close the border as a new step in a long chain of actions, the goal of which is to completely sever relations with Russia.
“There are some optimistic signs in the statements of the representatives of the Finnish Ministry of the Interior, which state that various options are being studied that will enable cross-border traffic to be restarted,” he says.
His according to him, Russia is also carefully monitoring the renewal and re-equipment of the Finnish army and navy.
“The country's leadership openly declares that all this is necessary because it is now the “frontline of NATO”, the “frontline state”. Of course, this must also be taken into account in our defense planning,” says Kuznetsov.
According to him Russian defense in this area is being developed and we take into account how “NATO conquers” Finland's territory. According to him, Russia is monitoring whether foreign bases, military units and new types of heavy offensive weapons appear in Finland.
In an interview Kuznetsov also estimates that Sunday's Finnish presidential election will not improve relations.
“Judging from the speeches of the candidates and the general social atmosphere in the country, the elections are unlikely to significantly change the situation for the better,” says Finnish ambassador Kuznetsov.
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