You're reading: Lavrov: Russia should use Finnish experience of resolving ethnic minorities’ issues

Moscow - During his visit to Finland, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov received assurance that Finland has no plans to join NATO and suggested using the Finnish experience in resolving minority and language issues.

“Finnish President [Sauli] Niinisto suggested imagining that Finland is suddenly a NATO member, and it will immediately double the length of the NATO-Russia border. He added that, if Sweden takes this path too, the Baltic Sea will essentially become an internal sea of NATO. Do Northern Europeans need that and how Russia will react – President Niinisto asked these questions, making it pretty clear that he knows the answer and it is negative – no one needs that,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview aired on the program Postscriptum on TVTs television.

The Finnish president is fully aware of the fact that events such as those that are now happening in Ukraine are impossible in Finland by definition, Lavrov said. “Nevertheless, they rule out encroachments on the rights of any minorities. It is known that only 6.5 percent of the population of today’s Finland are ethnic Swedes, but the Swiss language has state status,” he said.

In Ukraine, one third to half of the population are ethnic Russians and more than half of the country’s citizens speak Russian, but there is no decision to make Russian a second state language, he said.

“We should follow the Finns’ model of living in a state, resolving the issues of minorities, and establish relations between citizens,” the minister said.