Moscow says blame for termination of cross-border cooperation with Russia lies with Finland

Russia places the blame entirely on Finland for the cessation of cross-border cooperation, and the validity of Helsinki's plans to build a fence along the border with the Russian Federation must be assessed by Finnish citizens themselves, head of the second department of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Sergey Belyayev.

"Taking into account the confrontational actions of Finland towards Russia, the Russian side decided to terminate the Russian-Finnish intergovernmental agreement on promoting cross-border cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Finland, signed in Helsinki on April 13, 2012. Thus, at the moment, there is cross-border cooperation between Russia and Finland. We place the blame for this entirely on the Finnish side," Belyayev said.

Regarding the construction of a fence by Finland on the Russian-Finnish border, he noted that each state has the right to choose measures to ensure the security of its own border.

"It is difficult, of course, to imagine that almost one and a half thousand kilometers of border can be closed with a fence. But we will give Finnish citizens the opportunity to evaluate the need and effectiveness of this initiative of their authorities," he added.

The Finnish Cabinet of Ministers previously stated that due to the worsening situation with migration on the border with Russia, it decided to completely close checkpoints on the border in the southeast of the country from November 18 to February 18, 2024.





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