Russia expels 2 Finnish diplomats

Russia’s Foreign Ministry said that it had summoned the Finnish Ambassador to Moscow Antti Helantera to hand over a note protesting that the employees of the Russian Embassy in Helsinki were arrested. expulsion.

In a statement, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that Moscow handed a note to the Ambassador of Finland, strongly protesting the expulsion of two employees of the Russian Embassy in Helsinki as part of the operation. punish Russia of the EU as well as Finland’s confrontational attitude towards Russia.

In response to the move, Russia expelled two Finnish diplomats from Russia, the statement said.

The Russian Foreign Ministry also said that Russia opposes the so-called “Finnish confrontational line towards Russia”, a move that is believed to be related to Finland’s efforts to join NATO.

In this regard, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO might not make much difference because the two countries have participated in NATO exercises before.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. (Photo: AP)

On May 15, Finland made a formal decision to join NATO, reversing decades of policy of neutrality. Soon after, Sweden also took a similar step.

Commenting on this, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO is just a geopolitical move to contain Russia.

“We do not perceive Finland and Sweden to have any security concerns and we consider their decision, perhaps motivated by the US and NATO, as a geopolitical move to contain Russian regime, in the context of NATO’s planned expansion into the Arctic,” Lavrov said.

Meanwhile, regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflictInterfax news agency quoted the Deputy Foreign Minister of Russia on the same day as saying that Russia and Ukraine will not hold talks “of any kind”.

On May 17, Russia announced that it was withdrawing from the Council of Baltic Sea States (CBSS) amid heightened tensions between Moscow and the West over the conflict in Ukraine.

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