HELSINKI, July 29. /ITAR-TASS/. The European Union’s tough economic sanctions against Russia can negatively influence Finland’s economy, a Finnish senior government official said on Tuesday.

“It is obvious that if the EU sanctions affect the Russian economy, they can also impact Finland. We have to choose between what is correct from the moral and security point of view and what would be best for our economic interests in the short term,” Minister for European Affairs and Foreign Trade Lenita Toivakka said.

“The EU is now considering sanctions against the Russian financial, defense and oil sectors,” she said.

In practical terms, this would mean no new arms deals with Russia and more complicated access to financial markets for financial institutions controlled by the Russian government. The EU will also stop the export of high technologies intended for oil and gas prospecting on the seabed, Toivakka said.