MOSCOW - The Russian and Finnish presidents, Vladimir Putin and Sauli Niinisto, are due to meet on June 16 and may raise the Ukraine issue at their meeting, the Russian leader's spokesman said.
“We can’t rule out that there will be some exchange of opinions on the way the conflict settlement process is going in Ukraine,” Dmitry Peskov told reporters on June 15.
However, Russian-Finnish relations would be the main subject at the meeting, though the two leaders would also “exchange opinions on the current spectrum of international affairs,” Peskov said.
“Finland is one of our important trading and economic partners in the European Union. It is one of our neighbors, we have a very wide range of bilateral relations, and in a situation of the sanctions regime and certain decrease in trade, this form of touching base undoubtedly appears to be extremely important,” he said.
Putin and Niinisto would first hold one-to-one talks, and then other Russian and Finnish officials would join them, Peskov said. There would be a news conference afterward.
Earlier, Finland’s Prime Minister Juha Sipila and Foreign Minister Timo Soini had announced that there were talks in progress currently in seeking the lifting of the ban on entry to EU countries for Russian State Duma Chairman Sergei Naryshkin.
It is believed that this issue may also come up at the meeting between Putin and Niinisto.
