MOSCOW, January 14. /TASS/. Speaker of Russia’s Federation Council, Valentina Matvienko, has stated that Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila is expected to visit Russia in February or early March this year. She made this announcement at a meeting with Finnish Parliament Speaker, Paula Risikko.

"Heads of the Russian and Finnish governments also maintain a regular dialogue. [Russian Prime Minister] Dmitry Medvedev met his counterpart on September 26, 2018. This year, we expect the Prime Minister of Finland to come to Moscow with an official visit as soon as February or early March," Matvienko stated on Monday.

She added that the Federation Council places great importance on Risikko’s visit to Russia, "especially considering that there has been no full-fledged visit by a Finnish parliament speaker in over 10 years". Matvienko stressed that she expects the inter-parliamentary cooperation between the two countries to intensify after Sipila’s visit.

"Finland is our neighbor, and Russia is interested in the steady development of good-neighborly relations with Finland and in fostering cooperation, including on the issue of European and regional security," the upper house speaker specified.

The senator stressed that today amid complex international relations "a dialogue on all levels, including the parliamentary one, is important". "We are glad that among all Northern European countries, our relations with Finland are developing most vigorously," Matvienko pointed out.