|
Fri, 19 Aug, 2016 12:10:35 AM FTimes - STT Report, Aug 19  President Sauli Niinistö. File Photo – Lehtikuva. President Sauli Niinistö on Thursday dismissed any allegation of confusion caused by his proposal for improvement of flight security in the Baltic region made during the Kultaranta discussions.
The president’s remarks came in response to an article published by the Finnish language daily Helsingin Sanomat, which said the initiatives taken by the president for improving the flight security in the Baltic Sea has caused confusion.
During the discussion at the president’s Kultaranta residence in early July, Niinisto proposed to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to equip military aircraft with transponders.
Niinistö revealed that he also brought the subject up a week after the meeting with Putin at the NATO summit.
According to Niinistö, the heads of the states were familiar with the subject, so there was no confusion.
Helsingin Sanomat Editor in Chief Kaius Niemi said the newspaper’s analysis consists of two observations which still have cause to be presented.
“Firstly, the ministries of foreign affairs and defence were not involved in preparing the initiative that President Niinistö proposed to President Putin,” said Niemi.
“The second observation is that confusion started in early August when Russia made an initiative for private discussions based on the so-called Niinistö’s initiative. At the time, we didn’t know if Finland was somehow partial in this initiative,” said Niemi.
According to Niinistö, the initiative was not a surprise in Finland either.
Niinistö wrote that the matter about air traffic safety was discussed with Russia as early as last autumn, after which the government received information about the subject in December.
The president said the subject has been discussed in other instances also along the years.
For instance, Prime Minister Juha Sipilä had talked about transponders in parliament before the meeting between Niinistö and Putin.
More News
|
|
Finland Times
| Wednesday, 08 May, 2024 |
|
Copyright © 2024 All rights reserved
|
||||
