File picture of President Sauli Niinistö. Photo Lehtikuva.
President Sauli Niinistö and the Cabinet Committee on Foreign and Security Policy on Wednesday emphasised the need for a political dialogue on the Ukraine issue and stressed the urgency of implementing the declaration adopted in Geneva.
The committee at a meeting discussed the Ukraine situation. Later in a press release it said the situation continues to be regrettably unstable.
“Finland considers the development of the past few days as highly alarming. Demonstrations and acts of violence continue in eastern Ukraine and the situation in Odessa is very tense. Finland emphasises that all parties involved must refrain from rhetoric and measures which would escalate the crisis further,” said the release, adding that Russia also should use its influence on separatist groups active in different areas of the country to calm the situation.
The meeting observed that public unrest has increased uncertainty before the presidential election scheduled for May 25.
Finland considers the presidential election, and the subsequent parliamentary elections, highly important to stabilise Ukraine and to succeed in securing a national dialogue.
The role of the OSCE is key both in monitoring the situation and the election process.
The EU supports the preparatory work for the elections in cooperation with the OSCE and the Council of Europe. Finland has assigned three election observers on a long-term basis through the OSCE to monitor the elections and will be sending 21 observers on a short-term basis.
The committee on Wednesday also discussed the participation of the Defence Forces in multinational training and cooperation exercises, the press release added.
