Finnish president underlines need to understand Russia

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto on Friday once again emphasized the need for European countries to understand Russia, as he believed such understanding varies in the European Union.

"In some countries, there is at least an effort made to try to grasp Russian thinking," he said, in an interview with the social democratic newspaper Demokraatti, adding that making this effort helps understand Russian motivations.

He expressed the view that for some European countries the United States is a kind of "informal opinion leader."

The Finnish president also commented on the recent statement by British defence secretary Michael Fallon wherein he warned about the danger of Russia to the Baltic countries.

"The minister went further than the Baltics themselves, and they as well have been considerably doubtful," Niinisto said.

He pointed out that the highest value of the EU is peace and he wondered whether such a union could continue existing if it had not been able to secure peace in parts of its territory.

Niinisto was interviewed on occasion of the 120th anniversary of the social democratic newspaper Demokraatti, the leading labour oriented newspaper in Finland. Endit