Niinistö gave the recent prisoner swap between Russian and Ukraine as the example of the dialogue

President of Finland Sauli Niinistö expressed doubt about the efficiency of sanctions against Russia as Interfax-Ukraine reported referring to the president’s speech at 16th annual meeting of Yalta European Strategy (YES) in Kyiv.

“There were voices, which said that after the sanction the Russian economy will collapse and they will be forced step back and it did not happen and I have doubts that it will happen in the future…If we will think only black or white we are doomed to failure,” he said.

The president of Finland gave the recent prisoner swap between Russian and Ukraine as the example of the dialogue.

“We need the achievements of small things to base the great things on them,” Niinistö explained.

On September 12, Finnish president came to Kyiv with the official visit. Niinistö noted during the meeting with Zelensky that Finland always supported and highly appreciated the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

Earlier Zelensky appealed to the work partners of Ukraine to keep sanctions against Russia. He noted that the sanctions are the strict taxes in fact; they are necessary for the world order.