Forwarded from Russian MFA 🇷🇺
🇷🇺🇫🇮📞 Russia's President Vladimir #Putin had a telephone conversation with Finland President Sauli #Niinistö at the Finnish side’s initiative.
Heads of the two counties had a sincere exchange of views over the announced decision by Finland’s leadership to apply for #NATO membership.
❗️ Vladimir Putin stressed that rejecting the traditional policy of military neutrality would be wrong since there are no threats to Finland’s security.
Such a change in the country’s foreign policy course could have a negative effect on Russia-Finland relations, which have been built over the course of many years in the spirit of neighbourliness and partnership cooperation.
The Presidents also discussed the situation in #Ukraine. In particular, Vladimir Putin shared his opinion of the state of the negotiating process between Russian and Ukrainian representatives. This process has been practically put on hold by #Kiev, which does not show any interest in a serious and constructive dialogue.
Heads of the two counties had a sincere exchange of views over the announced decision by Finland’s leadership to apply for #NATO membership.
❗️ Vladimir Putin stressed that rejecting the traditional policy of military neutrality would be wrong since there are no threats to Finland’s security.
Such a change in the country’s foreign policy course could have a negative effect on Russia-Finland relations, which have been built over the course of many years in the spirit of neighbourliness and partnership cooperation.
The Presidents also discussed the situation in #Ukraine. In particular, Vladimir Putin shared his opinion of the state of the negotiating process between Russian and Ukrainian representatives. This process has been practically put on hold by #Kiev, which does not show any interest in a serious and constructive dialogue.
🇷🇺🇱🇻 Commentary of the Russian Embassy in Latvia:
"In recent months, the EU and NATO member states have ramped up supplies of modern lethal weapons to Ukraine, including multiple launch rocket systems and long-range anti-aircraft missiles.
The military and political leadership of Latvia continues to brag about the fact that it has spent a third of its defense budget on the militarization of Ukraine and pumping the Kyiv regime with new weapons.
We cannot but draw attention to Riga's cynical disregard for the basic principles of control over the export of weapons and military technologies. Let us recall that the Arms Trade Treaty of 2014 and the "common stance" of the European Union on the export control of military technologies and equipment do prohibit the export of weapons if that would lead to a violation of international law, contribute to the escalation of armed conflicts and civilian casualties. Thus, we are seeing another manifestation of "double standards".
Meanwhile, the intensity of massive shelling of settlements of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics with the use of mortars, grenade launchers, large-caliber artillery and small arms sent to Kyiv by its Western curators is only increasing with every day. The number of the injured and civilian casualties, which is steadily going up, serves as an eloquent evidence to this. Random shelling of residential areas results in thousands of children, women and elderly dying. On July 6, 2022, the Armed Forces of Ukraine launched massive strikes with cluster munitions on Makiyivka. The shells exploded right on the playground, a few meters away from a seesaw, taking the lives of three children at once. In total, 7 civilians were killed during the day. At the same time, no military or strategic targets were hit.
Do you know how Mr.Zelensky, so praised by the Latvian leadership, commented on this tragedy?! Let us quote him verbatim: "Finally it is felt that the Western artillery — the weapons we received from our partners — started working very powerfully. Its accuracy is exactly as needed."
However, the Latvian state propaganda is keeping stubbornly silent on this for some unknown reason and will hardly ever tell you anything about it."
#NATO #Latvia #Russia
"In recent months, the EU and NATO member states have ramped up supplies of modern lethal weapons to Ukraine, including multiple launch rocket systems and long-range anti-aircraft missiles.
The military and political leadership of Latvia continues to brag about the fact that it has spent a third of its defense budget on the militarization of Ukraine and pumping the Kyiv regime with new weapons.
We cannot but draw attention to Riga's cynical disregard for the basic principles of control over the export of weapons and military technologies. Let us recall that the Arms Trade Treaty of 2014 and the "common stance" of the European Union on the export control of military technologies and equipment do prohibit the export of weapons if that would lead to a violation of international law, contribute to the escalation of armed conflicts and civilian casualties. Thus, we are seeing another manifestation of "double standards".
Meanwhile, the intensity of massive shelling of settlements of the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics with the use of mortars, grenade launchers, large-caliber artillery and small arms sent to Kyiv by its Western curators is only increasing with every day. The number of the injured and civilian casualties, which is steadily going up, serves as an eloquent evidence to this. Random shelling of residential areas results in thousands of children, women and elderly dying. On July 6, 2022, the Armed Forces of Ukraine launched massive strikes with cluster munitions on Makiyivka. The shells exploded right on the playground, a few meters away from a seesaw, taking the lives of three children at once. In total, 7 civilians were killed during the day. At the same time, no military or strategic targets were hit.
Do you know how Mr.Zelensky, so praised by the Latvian leadership, commented on this tragedy?! Let us quote him verbatim: "Finally it is felt that the Western artillery — the weapons we received from our partners — started working very powerfully. Its accuracy is exactly as needed."
However, the Latvian state propaganda is keeping stubbornly silent on this for some unknown reason and will hardly ever tell you anything about it."
#NATO #Latvia #Russia