Finnish President Currently Sees No Reason to Lift Anti-Russia Sanctions

© AP Photo / Lehtikuva/Heikki SaukkomaaFinnish President Sauli Niinisto speaks to media in Helsinki, Finland on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2014
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto speaks to media in Helsinki, Finland on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2014 - Sputnik International
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Western sanctions against Russia will not be lifted until the provisions of the Minsk peace agreement are implemented, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said Tuesday.

US President Donald Trump speaks during the Inaugural Law Enforcement Officers and First Responders Reception in the Blue Room of the White House in Washington, US, January 22, 2017. - Sputnik International
Trump Unlikely to Lift Anti-Russia Sanctions With 'One Click of His Fingers'
KIEV, January 24 (Sputnik) – In December 2016, the Russian envoy to the European Union, Vladimir Chizhov, said that the bloc would start reconsidering sanctions against Russia, imposed over Moscow's alleged involvement in the Ukrainian internal conflict, if the new US administration softened the country's anti-Russian stance.

In mid-January, US President-elect Donald Trump hinted that the US sanctions against Russia could be lifted in exchange for the nuclear arsenal reduction.

"It would be good thing to have the possibility of lifting the sanctions, but there is a condition and that is Minsk," Niinisto said at a joint press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko, when asked about the possible effect of Trump's suggestion on European and Finnish sanctions policy.

Niinisto also said he believed that Washington was unlikely to change its policy regarding the sanctions, which were imposed over Crimea's reunification with Russia.

Niinisto stressed that Finland respected decisions taken by the European Union as it is one of the EU member states and noted that Brussels and Washington had taken their own decisions concerning the issue of applying sanctions against Russia.

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