Russia Sees Finland as Good Partner despite Sanctions: Putin
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Russia sees its partnership with Finland as still "kind and businesslike" despite the sanctions Moscow has introduced on Finnish food imports, President Vladimir Putin said Friday.
"Russia remains Finland's primary trade partner," Putin told his visiting Finnish counterpart, Sauli Niinisto, in the resort city of Sochi.
Niinisto is the first president of a European Union country to visit Russia in an official capacity since the escalation of the Ukraine crisis.
Putin admitted that bilateral trade has fallen by around eight percent lately, which was caused by both political and economic reasons, Xinhua reported.
Russia's Finnish partners have postponed or canceled a number of joint events, including a session of the bilateral inter-government commission for economic cooperation, said a report released by the Kremlin ahead of the meeting.
"We are particularly glad to welcome the president of Finland and his colleagues so as to discuss all these problems," Putin said, adding that Finnish businesses have invested a lot in the Russian economy.
Niinisto said the crisis in Ukraine has negatively affected Russia-Finland relations and triggered "global negative changes."
"Development of our relations has been offset by political events and current new situation," Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.
Niinisto added that he hopes to discuss possibilities to settle the Ukraine crisis, stop the negative turmoil and help stabilize the situation.
Russia imposed a one-year ban on food imports from the EU, the United States, Australia, Canada and Norway last week in response to Western sanctions on it over the Ukraine crisis.
