Europe and Russia have a long way to go before they bring relations back to normal but there is a need to maintain dialogue with Russia instead of isolating it, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Monday in an interview with the Finnish Helsingin Sanomat newspaper ahead of his visit to Finland.
“No one can be happy about the current state of Germany and Europe’s relations with Russia,” he said. According to Steinmeier, Russia’s activities in eastern Ukraine and Crimea greatly affected relations. “We want to improve relations but we still have a long way to be before we bring them back to normal. However, Russia remains Europe’s neighbor and Finland is the country that understands it better than others,” he added.
The German president pointed out that it was not right to isolate Russia. “Those who wish to look not only to the past but to the future as well, need to search for ways to communicate, particularly in hard times,” he said.