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Russia insists on unbiased probe into all crimes in Ukraine — Lavrov

Russia and Finland say the Minsk agreements on Ukraine must be implemented, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says
Sergey Lavrov and Erkki Tuomioja Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS
Sergey Lavrov and Erkki Tuomioja
© Stanislav Krasilnikov/TASS

Russia and Finland say the Minsk agreements on Ukraine must be implemented, Lavrov said. “We discussed the situation in Ukraine. Our common position is that all parties must comply with the Minsk agreements fixed in the protocol of September 5 and the memorandum of September 19,” Lavrov said.

Finland supports the resolution of Ukraine’s problems in cooperation with its neighbors, Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja stressed. “We support Ukraine’s sovereignty,” Tuomioja said. “We support measures that help Ukraine solve problems in cooperation with neighbors for the issue to be resolved constructively," he added.

Economic relations between Russia and Finland

Speaking about bilateral relations between Moscow and Helsinki, Lavrov said Russia is sure that the decrease in trade turnover with Finland was temporary. “Finland is one of our economic partners. Over the last months, the trade turnover has decreased. But this is a temporary phenomenon,” Lavrov said.

“We agreed to continue efforts within the working bodies of the intergovernmental commission for economic cooperation,” he said.

Due to unfavorable economic situation, the trade turnover between Russia and Finland decreased by 6% in January-July 2014 as compared with the same period of 2014 and reached $10.1 billion. Russian exports fell by 5% and amounted to $7.3 billion.

Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja said contacts with Russia were very important due to the current problems between Moscow and the EU. “We differently interpret these problems, but it is necessary to meet and discuss ways for solving them,” he said, adding that the meeting had not focused on bilateral relations.