“I hope it has more importance than simply for Finland, meaning I hope we’ll receive a slight indication that the tensions are decreasing or at the very least that there won’t be any new tensions,” he stated in an interview with SVT , the public broadcaster of Sweden, on Friday.

Finnish President Sauli Niinistö has expressed his hope that a wider importance is attached to the highly anticipated summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump in Helsinki on Monday, 16 July.

“We have quite enough of those already.”

Niinistö also called attention to the importance of establishing and fostering a dialogue between the two heads of state.

“You have to be a realist to the extent that you recognise that a dialogue can help resolve and make progress on issues. It’s better to talk than to be quiet,” he said, adding that he nonetheless does not expect any major breakthroughs on concrete issues.

“I think this is a so-called first meeting, where the main goal apparently is to test if the dialogue runs smoothly and if a common ground can be found rather than to address some kind of concrete issues,” explained Niinistö.

Presidents Putin and Trump will meet today at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki. Both heads of state will also have a bilateral meeting with Niinistö.

Aleksi Teivainen – HT

Photo: Roni Rekomaa – Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi