Finland encourages US to impose sanctions on Russia

The United States should impose sanctions on Russia as soon as possible to ,,force” it to the negotiating table, Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said. He was quoted by the national television station Yle.

,,I hope that the United States will make this decision as soon as possible. We need to make a decision now. Only by imposing new sanctions, facilitated of course by the European Union, did Moscow have no choice but to negotiate”, Orpo said.

For his part, Oras Tynkkynen, leader of the Green League party, criticized the way the Finnish government accepted NATO’s demand to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP without consulting the parliamentary parties.

The North Atlantic Alliance summit will address this topic in The Hague, at the end of June this year.

,,After the NATO meeting takes place, I will transmit to Parliament all the necessary information, which will provide a clear forum for a debate by mutual agreement’’, the Prime Minister concluded.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump asked lawmakers to postpone the consideration of a bill on the introduction of new sanctions against Russia. This is a document that proposes the introduction of 500% customs duties on states that purchase Russian oil and other minerals.

Senator Richard Blumenthal stated that the White House still doubts the possibility of introducing restrictive measures against Moscow, the position being quite hesitant.