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Russian diplomat comments on meeting with Finnish president

The Finnish president 'demonstrated keen interest to the state of the Russian-US relations,' according to a Russian diplomat

HELSINKI, September 12. /TASS/. Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Tuesday his meeting with Finnish President Sauli Niinisto was an important political signal.

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Ryabkov met with Niinisto on Tuesday, the final day of his two-day consultations with US Under Secretary of State Thomas Shannon in the Finnish capital city.

"The Finnish president kindly offered to have this contact. He met with both of us separately (he met with Shannon on Monday - TASS). It was an important political signal for us and I consider this gesture on the part of the president as a high honor," Rybakov told journalists.

"On the other hand, the fact that leaders of this level take interest to what is going on in our dialogue indicates that something the Russian-US relations are unhealthy. It is a reminder that we must take serious efforts to look for remedies to get rid of the fever we have been in for months," he said.

The Finnish president "demonstrated keen interest to the state of the Russian-US relations, strategic stability dialogue and voiced a number of ideas based on what he sees," the Russian diplomat noted. "I took the notice of that and think that such conversation is a major and valuable gesture.".

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