2023-07-06 11:05:22
Russia announced on Thursday that it would close a Finnish consulate in St. Petersburg and expel nine diplomats from the Nordic country, in retaliation for the expulsion of the same number of Russian diplomats from Helsinki.
“Nine employees of the Finnish Embassy in Russia and the Finnish Consulate General in St. Petersburg have been declared persona non grata,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
The ministry added that the agreement allowing the operation of the Finnish Consulate General in St. Petersburg would be terminated from October 1.
These measures were announced to the Finnish ambassador, Antti Helanterä, summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow.
He was served “a strong protest” because of the “confrontational and anti-Russian policy” of the Finnish authorities, which, according to Russian diplomacy, aims to “demolish decades of mutually beneficial Russian-Finnish relations”.
On June 6, the Finnish authorities announced that they were expelling nine Russian diplomats stationed in Helsinki accused of working for Russia’s “intelligence” services.
Relations between these two neighbors deteriorated sharply following the Russian armed intervention in Ukraine at the end of February 2022. Finland has since broken with decades of military non-alignment by applying in May 2022 to NATO, which it officially became a member in April.
“The terms of Finland’s entry into NATO, currently being discussed, create a threat to the security of the Russian Federation and encourage the Kiev regime to go to war,” denounced Russian diplomacy on Thursday.
In May, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto indicated that Russia would freeze the bank accounts of the Finnish embassy in Moscow and the consulate in St. Petersburg at the end of April.
This freeze coincided with the announcement by the Finnish public company Fortum that Moscow had taken control of its Russian subsidiary, President Vladimir Putin having signed a presidential decree approving this measure.
In February, Finland also began construction of a 200-kilometre pilot fence on the Russian border, amid fears in Helsinki that Moscow might use the flow of migrants crossing the border to exert pressure.
1688656799
#Russia #closes #Finnish #consulate #expels #diplomats
