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Putin arrives in Finland for talks with Finnish president

While in Turku, Putin and Niinisto are expected to go to a central square where a personalized plate with Putin’s name will be laid down
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

TURKU, June 25 (Itar-Tass) - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday arrived on a one-day official visit to Finland far talks with his Finnish counterpart, Sauli Niinisto. Apart from that, he will attend the festivities timed to mark the 60th anniversary since the establishment of twin-city ties between Russia’s second largest city Leningrad/St. Petersburg and Finland’s Turku.

The two cities made up the first ‘Soviet-Finnish twin pair’ in 1953. Currently, there are more than 150 pairs of Russian-Finnish twin cities. Putin and Niinisto made an arrangement to celebrate the jubilee when the Finnish President made a visit to Moscow in February.

The Russian President’s aide, Yuri Ushakov told reporters that Putin and Niinisto will meet at the latter man’s countryside residence in Kultaranta where three intergovernmental documents will be signed. They are an intergovernmental agreement on the transportation of hazardous commodities directly by railway across the Russian-Finish state border, an overhauled agreement on cooperation between the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the Finnish Central Union of Business Life, and an agreement between the Skolkovo Foundation and the TEKES Agency for Technologies and Innovations.

After the talks, he two presidents will address a joint news conference.

The talks will then continue in the format of a ‘working luncheon’ aboard a pleasure boat that will take the negotiators from Kultaranta to Turku, 23 kilometers off Kultarana. The Kremlin press service said earlier the two heads of state plan to discuss bilateral cooperation, mitigation of the visa issuance procedures on both sides, and acute international agenda.

While in Turku, Putin and Niinisto are expected to go to a central square where a personalized plate with Putin’s name will be laid down as a sign of recognition of Putin’s personal effort to protect the ecology of the Baltic Sea, Ushakov said. After that, the celebration will take place. The two presidents and the mayor of Turku are expected to deliver speeches.