MOSCOW: Russia and Finland have been able to overcome the influence of the EU’s destructive policy towards Russia on bilateral relations and achieve an increase in trade turnover, the Russian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday in the run-up to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s visit to Finland on May 4, where he will be meeting with Helsinki’s top diplomat Timo Soini and Finnish President Sauli Niinisto.
“The two sides have been able to scale back the adverse impact on bilateral ties from the unfavorable political climate and the EU’s destructive policy towards Russia, which is even backed by Finland, by using decades of experience and a tradition of constructive and pragmatic interaction,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
“The decrease in the trade turnover that had continued since 2014 (dropping 50% – from $18bln to $9bln – in 2016) came to a halt in the second half of last year,” the ministry added. “In January and February, the trade volume rose 58% (to $1.8 bln).”
Cooperation in investment remains stable. The volume of accumulated Finnish direct investment in Russia was $3.7 bln after Q3 2016, while the volume of Russian investment in Finland amounted to $2.7 bln. The largest Russian investment project in Finland is the construction of the Hanhikivi-1 Nuclear Power Plant with the participation of the Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation valued at more than 5 billion euros.
As for the conflict in the Donbass region, Finland adheres to the EU’s stance. “Helsinki believes the key condition for resolving the conflict is compliance with the Minsk agreements,” the ministry added.
