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Russian Foreign Ministry ends cooperation with Finland-Russia Society NGO

The decision was made in the wake of the start of the special military operation to protect the DPR and LPR

Russian Foreign Ministry Vladimir Gerdo/TASS

Russian Foreign Ministry

© Vladimir Gerdo/TASS

MOSCOW, June 24. /TASS/. The Russian Foreign Ministry has decided to terminate cooperation with the Finnish non-governmental organization Finland-Russia Society due to its outspokenly anti-Russian stance.

"We took note of the outspokenly anti-Russian position taken by the Finnish non-governmental organization Finland-Russia Society in the wake of the start of the special military operation to protect the DPR and LPR," the Foreign Ministry said.

"Obviously, declarations by this organization about its focus on maintaining versatile ties with Russia and disseminating knowledge about our country are untenable. With this in mind, the Russian side decided to terminate its cooperation with the Finland-Russia Society, which has discredited itself, including within the framework of the international Finno-Ugric movement, in which due to efforts by Finnish participants, destructive and politicized tendencies have gained the upper hand," the statement reads.

As the Russian Foreign Ministry said, this organization’s leadership "painstakingly repeats the collective West’s Russophobic propaganda cliches in the public space." Also, the society has unilaterally frozen cooperation between the Russian-Finnish Cultural Forum and the Congress of Sister Cities.

"Under the guise of 'supporting the anti-war movement' interference in Russia’s internal affairs is being carried out," the Foreign Ministry said. "For our part, we are not going to refuse to have a dialogue with soberly-minded public circles in Finland, including the regional offices of the Finland-Russia Society and its rank-and-file members, if they are ready to promote truly constructive cooperation and mutual respect between our peoples."

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The 12th International Meeting of High Representatives for Security Issues took place in St. Petersburg on April 23-25