Finnish President Signals Russia May Leave Demilitarized Islands
- Helsinki set to retaliate after Moscow tells consulate to shut
- Sauli Niinisto speaks in Bloomberg TV interview from Vilnius
Sauli Niinisto in Vilnius, Lithuania, on July 11.
Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto declined to rule out shuttering Russia’s consulate on the demilitarized archipelago of Aland in response to Moscow closing Finland’s biggest consulate.
When Russia last week told Finland to shut down its St. Petersburg mission, Helsinki vowed to retaliate, signaling it might boot diplomats from the consulate in Turku on the southwest coast. Yet a public outcry has instead focused on the Aland Islands, which sit in a strategic position on the Baltic Sea, with questions raised on why Russia should be allowed such a presence on NATO territory, monitoring that they remain free from military activity.