Russia lives in its own reality

Summary:
An editorial in Ilta-Sanomat addressed the current foreign policy issues involving Russia and stated that Russia lives in its own reality, despite the economic sanctions. Russian Ambassador Pavel Kuznetsov spoke at the Paasikivi Society in Finland on December 11 and maintained that Russia had no involvement in the GPS jamming at the NATO exercise in Lapland.

Kuznetsov accused the European Union, NATO and the US together and separately. According to him, the West is guilty of scrapping international agreements, the escalation of the situation in Ukraine and NATO’s enlargement projects at the Russian border. Kuznetsov accused Ukraine of « provocation » at the Kerch Strait.

Finland itself was not mentioned in the speech, but a familiar message emerged between the lines: Russia does not view favourably Finland’s possible NATO membership. The Finland-Russia relations have endured i.a. Finland’s participation in the EU’s sanctions against Russia. Applying for NATO membership could be the threshold after which Russia would re-evaluate its stance towards Finland.

Finland has a good dialogue with Russia, but it is still difficult to agree with Kuznetsov’s view that relations between the countries could return to the pre-Crimean crisis level. The confrontation between Russia and the West seems to be cemented in its current state with no relief in sight; especially given that the US Congress is awaiting new economic sanctions against Russia. Decisions on this will be made after the turn of the year.

According to Ilkka, The EU countries have condemned Russia’s aggression in the Kerch Strait, but the issue of the tightening of sanctions would not be raised during the Foreign Ministers’ meeting in Brussels. The assessment of Ukraine’s situation was set to be a major topic and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin attended the meeting.

Media:  Ilkka  Ilta-Sanomat
Date: 13.12.2018
Journalist: 
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