MOSCOW, November 29. /TASS/. Russia's geopolitical opponents consider Finland a springboard in the event of an open military confrontation, the head of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs and LDPR leader Leonid Slutsky said.

"Our geopolitical and geostrategic opponents undoubtedly view Finland as a springboard to be used in the event of an open military confrontation, which is sheer madness and a significant step toward World War III, a conflict with no winners," he stated during a roundtable on the history of Soviet-Finnish and Russian-Finnish relations in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Slutsky noted that the current and previous leadership of Finland has been and remains engaged "on the lower turn of the sine wave, which is now marked by a sharp cooling of bilateral relations." "We maintain ties with Finnish MPs, political scientists, and public figures, and these contacts are slowly gaining a counter turn," the official added.