Russia reiterates openness to normalizing relations with ‘those who want it’

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Kremlin on Tuesday said that Russia is open to normalizing its ties with “those who want it,” responding to earlier remarks by Finnish President Alexander Stubb.

On Monday, Stubb said during a visit to the UK that his country needs to "mentally prepare" for restoring ties with Russia, noting that Moscow “will be our neighbor now and in the future.”

“President (Vladimir) Putin has repeatedly said that our country is open to normalizing relations with those who want it,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

Expressing that Russia never initiated the worsening of relations with its neighbors, including Finland, Peskov accused Helsinki, as well as Sweden, of choosing to “reduce these relations to virtually zero.”

“There were no problems, there was mutually beneficial cooperation. Companies of the two countries received dividends and benefits from this cooperation… This, unfortunately, is the sad state of our relations that we are seeing now,” he said.

The spokesman went on to accuse Finland and Sweden of “dragging NATO military infrastructure onto their territory.”

Peskov also commented on remarks by US President Donald Trump on imposing further sanctions on Russia, saying Moscow is continuing its contacts with the American side.

On Sunday, Trump said that he is "very angry" at his Russian counterpart over comments he made criticizing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's credibility, threatening to impose sanctions on Russia's oil sector if he believes the Kremlin is not contributing to efforts to secure a ceasefire in Ukraine.

“The topic is very complex - the substances that we are discussing, related to the Ukrainian settlement, they require a lot of additional efforts,” Peskov added.