Finland’s Foreign Minsiter, Timo Soini, has sought to play down an escalating row between Russia and Finland over the non-granting of a visa for the speaker of the Russian parliament.
Sergei Naryshkin was due to attend a Helsinki summit of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), but was refused an entry visa by Finnish authorities on the grounds that he is subject to an EU travel ban under the current sanctions regime.
On Tuesday the Kremlin summoned the Finnish ambassador in Moscow, Hannu Himanen, to explain the decision.
Speaking to Yle, Foreign Minister Soini insisted that the summoning – often seen as an act of diplomatic finger-wagging - was in fact a positive step.
”I fully understand that the Russians want to hear the reasoning for the decision directly from Ambassador Hannu Himanen, who will no doubt explain it to them,” Soini said. “It’s right that Russia should voice its own point of view directly to the ambassador, rather than it reaching us through third-party reports,” Soini insisted.
Act of aggression
Finland’s decision not to grant Naryshkin a temporary waiver to his travel ban was decried by some Russian officials as “spineless and insulting”, according to the tabloid Iltalehti. Other critics accused Finland of deliberately escalating tensions and impeding dialogue between Russia and the west.
Following Naryshkin’s visa refusal, the Kremlin threatened not to send any Russian delegates at all to the OSCE conference.
On Thursday Iltalehti reported Soini as taking a defiant stance towards the decision not to grant Naryshkin a visa, quoting him as saying that “Finland jumps to no-one’s whistle.”
However, speaking subsequently to Yle, Soini rejected the claim that the visa decision was an act of aggression.
”Finland is not aggressive. We have considered this issue carefully and made consultations and notifications and through that we have reached a negative decision. Above all we hope that Russia’s other official representatives will come to the summit,” he said.