The Finnish Foreign Minister, Pekka Haavisto, assured this Saturday that his country would be willing to host a first summit between the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and his US counterpart, Joe Biden.
“Finland is always ready to offer its good offices. Although there are other alternatives, Helsinki is always a good place for meetings,” the head of Finnish diplomacy explained at a press conference.
In July 2018, Helsinki hosted the first negotiations between the Russian president and his then-American counterpart, Donald Trump. The face to face lasted for more than two hours.
“It is very important to preserve diplomatic relations and communication in all situations and on very complicated issues as they do, for example, Finland and Russia,” added Haavisto on the recent tension between Russia and the EU.
“I think both should do the same,” he added in statements collected by the official Russian news agency Sputnik.
In the opinion of the Finnish head of diplomacy, a possible breakdown of relations between Moscow and Brussels “could be a negative scenario”, although he declined to comment on the issue of possible EU sanctions on Russia. The Finnish minister is scheduled to meet with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Monday, February 15, in Saint Petersburg.
