2023-09-25 06:26:46
Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen admitted that Western sanctions are also aimed at ordinary Russian citizens. She stated this in an interview The Washington Postpublished September 25.
A journalist for the publication asked Elina Valtonen whether the ban on the entry of Russian cars into Finland is fair to ordinary Russians. According to her, the West has no choice.
The Foreign Minister responded as follows: “Yes, sanctions harm normal people. And in a country like Russia, you can easily say that this is perhaps unfair, because it is not a normal democracy. People really can’t choose. But I don’t think we have a choice. Russia and the Russian people realize what kind of conduct [боевых действий] you have to pay. And it’s very important that we show this.”
Valtonen does not believe in a noticeable improvement in relations with Russia.
“I would say that we in the West want <...> so that Russia opens up to civil society and becomes a normal democracy. But while we hope for this, we must prepare for the worst, and the worst thing is that Russia will remain as it is in the future. Perhaps even worse,” said the head of the Finnish Foreign Ministry.
She also noted that she herself had always advocated for her country to join NATO.
“Now the majority of Finns are in favor of us being in NATO, and if this were not so, Finland would never have joined. There are Russian narratives that NATO expansion is a threat, but it is important to understand that NATO itself is not expanding. In democratic societies it is free people who vote or decide to join, and the same thing happened to Finland and Sweden when they were allowed in. In any case, we were quite close to NATO, so in a sense it was just a natural step,” said Elina Valtonen.
On September 8, the European Commission published an explanation stating that the anti-Russian sanctions adopted in 2022 apply to the vehicles of Russians and some personal belongings. Thus, citizens of the Russian Federation cannot enter the territory of the EU in private cars. The Baltic countries, Finland, and Poland closed entry for Russians by car; Russian cars were even turned away in Greece. By March 16, 2024, all cars with Russian license plates must leave the country of Suomi. Read more regarding this on Fontanka.
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