MOSCOW, April 6. /TASS/. Moscow and Helsinki would never go back to the previous format of cooperation, with Finland being member of the aggressive military bloc of NATO, Russian Ambassador to Finland Pavel Kuznetsov said in an interview with TASS.
"Sooner or later, the relationship between the two neighbors will be restored. That’s not going to happen as quickly as we might want though," the diplomat said. "Everything here will depend not so much on Helsinki, which has largely lost its independence in making decisions on foreign policy, but rather on the general policy course being pursued by Washington and Brussels toward Russia," he added.
"In any case, there will be no return to the previous format of cooperation now that Finland has joined the aggressive military bloc [of NATO]," the diplomat noted.
Kuznetsov blamed senior Finnish politicians for almost completely dismantling cooperation with Russia. "Working contacts through the two countries’ foreign ministries and embassies only are being maintained. Also, there is communication between certain agencies, mostly security services, aimed at solving practical issues," he concluded.
Kuznetsov added that the Finnish authorities have obviously joined the Western party of war against Russia.
"As regards the situation around Ukraine, Finland has clearly joined `the party of war against Russia until they win’ here," the diplomat said.
Kuznetsov pointed to official statements by the Finnish leadership as well as "the amount of military aid to Kiev" to substantiate his position. Also, Finland is among "top ten sponsors of the Ukrainian authorities per capita," he said.
Russian Ambassador noted as well that Russia would certainly retaliate if NATO’s nuclear weapons were deployed on Finnish soil.
"Of course, we cannot but respond to potential decisions by the Finnish government in this sphere. Specific steps will be developed depending on real threats that these actions will pose to our security," the Russian diplomat said, commenting on the potential deployment of NATO nukes on Finnish soil. "The Finns cannot but realize that such a major provocation will not be left without a Russian response," he maintained.
"However, we expect that common sense would prevail," he added.