Finland Times

Prime Minister Juha Sipilä will meet his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in St Petersburg on Friday.

In their meeting, the premiers will discuss topical bilateral matters and other questions, said an official press release.

This is the first meeting between the two prime ministers and Sipilä’s first visit to Russia as prime minister.

Meanwhile, Moscow on Thursday expressed willingness to discuss the border issue with Finland.

The Russian foreign ministry in a statement said the country understands Finland’s concern regarding the refugee crisis and is ready to discuss the issue in a constructive manner.

The ministry, however, pointed out that the Russian law or its international obligations do not bar people without Schengen visa from crossing the border.

The Russian border and migrant authorities do not want the number of asylum seekers grow further and are looking for means to prevent the situation, said the statement.

Sinikukka Saari, a senior researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, suspects that the intent of the statement is to pave way for Sipilä and Medvedev to bring the

topic in their meeting scheduled for Friday.

“It does not appear that Russia would want to create chaos in Finland, rather it wants to communicate something. In my opinion these various comments indicate that there is a

need to find a kind of political solution. My guess is that this issue will be resolved in the near future. Russia wants to remind that good cooperation at the borders is not

something taken for granted,” said Saari.