HELSINKI, Sep 15: Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo has said his country’s economic growth has slumped due to its sanctions on Russian goods, costing the Nordic nation billions in investments.
All trade between the two nations has come to a halt following Finland’s imposition of sanctions on Moscow post the Ukraine war.
The country, which shares a 1300 km border with Russia, towing the EU line after the start of the war, imposed several rounds of sanctions on Moscow in since 2022.
Helnsinki also greatly tightened entry rules for Russian citizens and shut all but one border checkpoint with its neighbour. The moves saw trade between the two countries drop to $1.5 billion in 2024, compared with $11 billion in pre-conflict 2021, according to RT.
In an interview on the country’s streaming service Yle Areena, Orpo acknowledged that sanctions have hit Finland harder than most EU members due to its traditionally close trade ties with Russia.
“The fact that the border is closed means, for example, 10 million cubic meters of Russian timber for our industry is not coming in. Finnish companies have lost billions in investments in Russia. Nearly all border traffic and trade have stopped,” Orpo said.
“That brings uncertainty. All this has led to the fact that the growth of the Finnish economy has not been as desired,” he added.
However, this won’t cause a shift in the country’s foreign policy on Moscow, with Finland echoing the NATO view, citing Russia as a ‘permanent threat’ the region, due to its campaign continuing unabated and Russians making further encroachments into Ukraine.
In line with that, Finland – which joined the bloc in 2023, plummeting the Moscow – Helsinki ties to a horrible low – has vowed to increase its defence budget as part of the EU’s collective bid to bolster its security by 5% of its GDP by 2030, to counter a potential Russian military campaign in Europe.
The Kremlin, for its par,t has denied these claims, and called them ludicrous, stating that these unwarranted claims of a potential Russian aggressor are little more than a diversionary tactic by the West to justify military buildups and shift public ire against them in their own countries, by a demonisation of Russia. It has condemned Western sanctions as illegal and warned they would backfire.
Finland, while still faring better than a bunch of other European countries since their suspension of trade with Russia, is currently undergoing a strong economic recession, with its growth having slowed down significantly due to a lack of raw materials, with its national economy undergoing recession in 2023 and 2024. According to Eurostat, its growth projections for 2025 are the lowest in the EU.
(UNI)
Follow our WhatsApp channel
