Western countries are at the gates of a new cold war
with Russia, sparked by the Ukraine crisis
and a continuing failure to grasp the depth and seriousness of Vladimir Putin’s
grievances with the US and EU, the Finnish president, Sauli Niinistö (above), has
warned.
Speaking to the Guardian at his official residence
before Thursday’s conference in Helsinki attended by the UK prime minister, David Cameron, and
Nordic and Baltic state leaders, Niinistö said Finland had a long tradition of
trying to maintain friendly relations with Russia. But it would not be pushed
around.
“The Finnish way of dealing with Russia, whatever the
situation, is that we will be very decisive to show what we don’t like, where
the red line is. And that is what we are prepared to do,” Niinistö said,
referring to recent violations of Finnish airspace by Russian military
aircraft.
“We put the Hornets [US-made Finnish air force F-18
fighter aircraft] up there and the Hornets were flying alongside the Russian
planes … The Russians turned back.
If they had not, what would we have
done? I would not speculate.”
Cameron will join eight Nordic and Baltic leaders at
the one-day Northern Future Forum hosted by Alexander Stubb, Finland’s prime
minister.
Sources said they will discuss a response to Moscow’s official
recognition of “illegitimate” weekend elections at the weekend that were won by
pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine, at a private dinner at Stubb’s
residence at Kesäranta.
Cameron will be told Britain is seen as an essential
player in formulating Europe’s policy towards Russia and that the Ukraine
crisis shows how the EU is much stronger when its members work together.
Finland, formerly a grand duchy of the Russian
empire, declared independence in 1917 after the Russian revolution. It survived
two separate conflicts with the Soviet Union during the second world war.
During the cold war, Finland followed
a policy of “active neutrality” to keep Moscow at bay. The two countries share
an 830-mile (1,300km) land border.
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