HELSINKI, March 13. /Offset. TASS Nina Burmistrova/. Finland and Russia have the opportunity to develop cooperation in the spheres not affected by sanctions, forcing the same panic on the Russian Federation will not help to improve the situation. This opinion was expressed in an interview with TASS, the presidential candidate of the country party, the Union “green” Pekka Haavisto.

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“The events of recent years in the Crimea and Ukraine , of course, has led many Finns to worry about how in Europe there are rules, customs and traditions, and whether the same events occur near Finland. So we stayed and tried to help the implementation of the Minsk agreements, which require action on the part of both Russia and Ukraine. We see the increasing militarization of the Baltic sea region, we are concerned about the deployment of Russian missile complexes “Iskander” near Kaliningrad. In my opinion, the Finnish defence forces have to keep it under control, but I don’t like that kind of atmosphere in which cultivated panic,” said Haavisto.

“If you look at some of our media, there are a lot of hype”, he continued. According to him, “in some Finnish media and society, the discussion sometimes is even several frightening key with references to the past, memories of the war”. “This is very difficult to build a future,” says Haavisto.

He noted that the President of Finland Sauli Niinistö “did a lot of good for relations with Russia, maintains a dialogue with President Vladimir Putin that has gained recognition and support in Europe.”

“We had such a phase, when only began to operate sanctions, then slightly decreased and cooperation in those spheres which are not included. I believe that we need to put more emphasis on the development of nesanktsionnymi areas of cooperation”, – concluded Haavisto.