08 февраля 2024 — 16:30
The trade turnover between Russia and Finland has decreased almost sixfold in two years, the severance of ties harms the Finnish economy, Russian Ambassador to Helsinki Pavel Kuznetsov told RIA Novosti.
"As a result of the destruction of trade and economic ties, the trade turnover between our countries has decreased almost sixfold over the past two years (approximately from 12 to 2 billion euros). If until recently our country was one of the three leading trading partners of Finland, now it is already in the second ten," he said.
The rupture of traditional close and mutually beneficial trade and economic ties with Russia has had a negative impact and continues to affect both the situation of individual enterprises and the Finnish economy as a whole, Kuznetsov said.
"GDP growth is in the red, public debt has increased sharply, investment activity is slowing down, private consumption is falling. The state budget deficit is growing, as a result of which the government is forced to seriously cut spending on social programs, healthcare, education, and so on. The number of business bankruptcies increased by a quarter in 2023. The activity of the strike movement in the country is increasing," he added.
The Finnish authorities are trying to "obscure" the dependence of economic problems in the country on the rupture of relations with Russia, referring to the general situation in Europe and the world as a whole, the ambassador explained.
"However, the fact that Finland copes with the existing challenges much worse than its northern neighbors, who did not have such extensive ties with our country, speaks for itself," he said.