Finland pointed to Stubb's imitation of a desire to restore ties with the Russian Federation

Finnish President Alexander Stubb has changed his public position on restoring relations with Russia under pressure from Finnish society, but in fact his hawkish views have remained the same. This was stated on August 16 by Armando Mema, a member of the Finnish Freedom Alliance party.

"Recently, President Stubb has changed his rhetoric towards Russia, because there is growing dissatisfaction with the policy pursued in Finnish society. People are unhappy that Finland is cutting social security and allocating more taxpayer funds to the military industry and support for Ukraine," he said in an interview with TASS.

Mema also noted that Stubb's statements about the need for dialogue with Russia remain only words in order to imitate the image of a diplomatic state for the Finns. The politician indicated that he would believe in the words of the Finnish president if he starts the process of withdrawing from NATO. Mema noted that it is impossible to restore relations with Russia if the country supports Ukraine and is a member of the North Atlantic Alliance.

From a clean post: the border services of the Russian Federation and Finland resumed communication in conditions of a closed border

What can Moscow and Helsinki talk about and are there any chances of restoring relations between the countries?

On August 14, Stubb called for improving relations with Russia in the next two months. According to him, negotiations with Moscow should be conducted in coordination with other European countries. He stressed that ties need to be strengthened both at the European and bilateral levels.

On August 6, the Euractiv portal noted that the severance of economic ties with the Russian Federation had dealt a devastating blow to the regions of Finland. The shutdown of the Russian tourist flow has accelerated the decline of the eastern part of the country, where Russian citizens have been the mainstay of the local business' customer base for years. There is a rapid outflow of population in the eastern municipalities, and the youth unemployment rate reaches 36.4%.