Finland hopes that cooperation with Russia will continue as usual, after Moscow has revealed it’s decision to expel a Finnish diplomat as a mirrored responce to the actions of Finland. This was announced by Maimo Henriksson, Head of department of Finland’s Foreign Ministry in her interview with TV channel Yle.
“The expulsion of Finnish diplomat was an expected responce”, – she said.
“We believe that our diplomatic cooperation will continue as usual afterwards”, – Henriksson added.
Earlier, Russia has notified Finland about it’s decision to expel one Finnish diplomat from Finland’s embassy in Moscow, as a response to Russian diplomatic personnel expulsion from Finland. He will be required to leave the country in two weeks. The expelled diplomat’s name has not been revealed.
On Friday, heads of diplomatic missions of countries that expelled Russian diplomats were summoned by the foreign Ministry, where they were handed notes of protest as well as given the announcement of retaliatory measures.
In late march, a number of states have declared about coordinated expulsion of Russian diplomats an act of solidarity with the UK in response to Skripal’s case. Finland, in particular, has decided to expel a single Russian embassy worker, giving him two weeks to leave the country.
Finland’s president, Sauli Niinistö, has said, at the same time that dialogue with Russia must continue in any case.