Sweden and Finland convene meetings to discuss issues on Ukraine

Sweden and Finland have called meetings of their parliaments to discuss Ukraine, the Finnish Helsingin Sanomat newspaper and the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reported on 18 February.

According to Aftonbladet, Swedish Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard announced an emergency convocation of parliament to discuss the Ukrainian issue. Stenergard pointed out that supporting Ukraine is Sweden's top foreign policy priority.

"In this very serious situation, we in Sweden need to come together and rally around Ukraine," the newspaper quoted the minister as saying.

The Helsingin Sanomat newspaper said that Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo called a parliamentary meeting on Tuesday, February 18, to discuss the current foreign policy situation in the context of the Ukrainian conflict. It was specified that after the meeting he would meet with journalists to talk about the outcome of the discussions.

Resolving issues: talks between Russian and US delegations begin in Riyadh

The sides may discuss a meeting between the leaders of the countries Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump

Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova reacted to foreign media reports about urgent meetings in Sweden and Finland. She suggested that the Nordic countries should talk about their own problems instead of discussing Ukraine.