Finnish President calls on West to maintain Russia ties
The Finnish leader noted that nations who supply arms to Ukraine should think of the "tremendous risks."
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Finland's President Sauli Niinisto makes a point during a press conference with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland on May 11, 2022. (AP)
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto believes it is important for Western countries to maintain relations with Russia, something he advised them to do on Sunday.
During a New York Times interview, Niinisto stated that trust would be needed after the war in Ukraine in order to ensure that a new war does not break out. He also clarified what he meant, noting that he "does not mean any great friendship, but the capabiltiy to tolerate, even understand each other a bit."
The Kremlin has pledged that Russia will never yield to Western pressure regarding the situation in Ukraine, asserting that Russians are facing unjust discrimination in Western countries amid a surge of Russophobia.
The hysteric sanctions, unprecedented in history in terms of volume and time span in which they were adopted, did not subdue Moscow; rather, they left the EU's most powerful countries, most notably Germany, vulnerable to rising energy prices and sticky inflation rates.
Regarding nuclear war possibilities, the Finnish leader noted that nations who supply arms to Ukraine should think of the "tremendous risks."
"We’re in a very sensitive situation. Even small things can change matters a great deal and unfortunately for the worse," he added.
Read more: Russians banned from bringing cars, goods into EU
NATO is spreading 'Russophobic horror stories': Russian Deputy FM
In January, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said that the spread of "Russophobic horror stories" has become a "maniacal" trait of the West and specifically NATO.
"We don't need anything from the West. We want to be left alone. But NATO, for its part, with maniacal persistence worthy of better use, has consistently crawled up to the Russian borders, at the same time zombifying our neighboring countries with Russophobic horror stories," Ryabkov told Sputnik.
Ryabkov recalled warning the US against involving itself in the war, even through rhetoric, "The Americans did not hear our warnings and did not take them seriously, but only continued in every possible way to incite Kiev against Russia,"
