Official website of the President of Russia

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Question: Mr President, you know Finland well. I wonder how many times have you been to Finland and what are your impressions?

Vladimir Putin: I even find it hard to say how many times I have been to Finland. Many times and I have the best of impressions. As you know I was born and grew up in St Petersburg, a city that historically has always been closely linked with Finland.

I know that even before 1917, the Finnish intelligentsia liked to spend their weekends in St Petersburg. We have always had a lot of Finnish tourists. In general, over the years we have come to like the Finns, have kind feelings towards the Finnish people and think of them as very good neighbours and very reliable people in that part of Russia. On the one hand, they belong to the European culture and, on the other, they understand Russians and readily find a common language with them.

Question: Against that background, do you believe that there is a need for a special relationship between Russia and Finland like during the Cold War? How is relationship with our President shaping up?

Vladimir Putin: I think that during the Cold War Finland played a very important role in Europe precisely because of its neutral status. At the time it was definitely a kind of bridge between West and East. It was not by chance that the Helsinki Final Act was signed in Helsinki. It played an important role at the time, and Finland has not yet lost that role today. If you asked me whether it makes sense to forge a special relationship, I would say that it is already in place. The thing is to preserve this relationship and develop it in the right direction.

If we look at the economy we see that despite the downturn, especially after 1998, we have recently seen significant growth in economic ties. Our trade registered a 48% increase within the last year. Russia accounts for much of Finland’s foreign trade, about 7%. Our mutual trade is $5 billion. Russia ranks approximately fifth among Finland’s main economic partners, and Finland’s rank among Russia’s partners is roughly the same.

As for my relations with the Finnish leadership, I must say that I had good relations with the previous President and with his predecessor. I have very good relations with the current Finnish President, Ms Halonen. She is a recognised European leader and highly regarded in Europe. I am proud that we have developed very good and friendly relations with her.

Question: The most striking contrast in terms of living standards is thought to be in Vyborg. Can Russia benefit from Finnish economic experience, for example, in the field of forestry and so on?

Vladimir Putin: Definitely so. We know that forestry and wood processing are highly developed in Finland, but that is not the only reason why we are interested in Finland. We have many opportunities for developing bilateral cooperation in other spheres, for example, in telecommunications. We know that Nokia and other leading Finnish companies have shown an interest in cooperating with Russia in this sphere. We are aware that major Finnish companies are working successfully in the metallurgical industry, and that provides another field for discussion and joint work.

I must say that the Russian economy and the Russian laws adopted recently offer some opportunities for Finnish businessmen. You will have heard or read that today Russia has a flat income tax rate of 13% regardless of income size. As far as I know, income tax in Finland for high-income people is up to 60%. That is one opportunity to use the favourable investment climate in this country.

Second, we recently passed a law whereby the tax on the profits of legal entities, of businesses, will be 24%. In Finland, I think, it is 40% or more. This offers major opportunities for direct investments, for moving Finnish production facilities to Russia.

If we follow that road, the gap in living standards between the people in Vyborg and the neighbouring parts of Finland will be bridged quickly.

Question: If I could ask you about our neighbour, Karelia. You have just been there and we watched a video of your trip. They were even singing in Karelian. How do you see cooperation with Finland in Karelia? And another question. What is your attitude towards minority languages in Russia? For example, the Karelian language?

Vladimir Putin: I think this is an area of activity, in this case in the humanitarian sphere, where the countries of Northern Europe and Finland have a good record and take the right approach in the handling of sometimes delicate issues. The right of minority languages to develop and survive is a priority in the northern countries and Finland, and I think that is absolutely right. We will do the same not only in the north of our country, not only in Karelia, but in other places in the Russian Federation.

You may have noticed that the students at Petrozavodsk University were singing songs in the Finnish, Karelian and other languages of the Russian North. These territories were being developed simultaneously by Scandinavians and Russians from Novgorod. They were developed at about the same time. A unique situation exists in that part of Europe. There have never been ethnic clashes there. It is a very interesting experience which is highly relevant for Russia as a multinational state.

As for cooperation between Karelia and Finland, and not only Karelia but all the other Russian territories bordering on the Finnish Republic, that is very important. When I was the Deputy Mayor of St Petersburg, I headed the Government Commission on Cooperation between St Petersburg and Finland. I was its Russian co-chairman. And it was obvious to me even then that the development of regional cooperation between Finland and the neighbouring parts of the Russian Federation was very important because problems in the development of bilateral ties are more apparent at the regional level and ways to solve these problems are also more apparent. It applies not only to humanitarian issues but of course to issues of economic development.

Question: Another important theme is the environment. What is Russia going to do or what can it do to make the Gulf of Finland clean? The new Primorsk port is a matter of particular concern for Finland.

Vladimir Putin: As you know, before the decision was taken to build the port, an ecological study was carried out and the results of the study were presented to our Finnish colleagues. Currently, specialists do not have any fears about that issue.

I would rather speak not about the building of the port, but about the need for all the Baltic countries – and Russia is currently the president of the Baltic Council – to pool their efforts to enhance the safety of navigation in the Baltic Sea and in the Gulf of Finland.

Question: The Baltic region faces a serious problem in connection with NATO enlargement. Have there been any changes in the Russian position on the issue?

Vladimir Putin: No. We have spelt out our position clearly. We do not see NATO as a hostile organisation, like in the times of the confrontation between the Warsaw Pact and NATO. The Warsaw Pact no longer exists, and the Soviet Union no longer exists. Democratic Russia takes a very different attitude towards NATO. I repeat, we do not consider it to be a hostile organisation, but we see no point in its expansion because there is no threat to European countries, at least not from the East, from the Russian Federation. That is an obvious fact.

So, we believe it would be proper to speak about creating a single security system in Europe. That is an issue of principle, because if there is no equal security for all, then the key element, trust, will be lacking. The mere advance of NATO borders to the East, unfortunately, does not solve that problem.

As for Finland, we said at the start of our talk that Finland has played a unique role in recent European history owing to its neutral status. In addition, accession into NATO requires new members to greatly increase their military budgets, to 2% of the GDP. What for?

Secondly, it requires the adoption of the new standards, NATO standards of weapons, which means a virtual replacement of all military equipment. What for?

I don’t think it is warranted by the realities of present-day Europe. The objective reality is that we all face common threats which we must confront together. What are they? The spread of terrorism, the spread of fundamentalism, the spread of narcotics and organised crime. All these are real threats, but these problems are not addressed within NATO. They can only be solved through the joint efforts of all the European countries.

Take the Russian-Finnish border. If Russia were to loosen the protection of its border – and let us be realistic and honest about it – Finland may face problems that are similar to those experienced by the Central Asian region, odd as it may seem because it is a region far removed from the Finnish borders. Finland would immediately feel the impact of the problems connected with drug trafficking, organised crime and even fundamentalism.

Question: There is another international organisation, the European Union. It is also enlarging. What is Russia’s reaction to that?

Vladimir Putin: We support the strengthening of a united Europe, including its enlargement. Russia is a European country if only because it is in Europe. And not only because of that, but above all because it is what it is because it is a centre of European culture.

We see the enlargement of the European Union in a different light than the expansion of NATO. We believe it is a positive process and we support it.

Today, about 35% of our trade is with Europe. If potential members of the EU are admitted, that indice will top 40%. The main thing is that in the process of admitting new members to the EU, they should not face obstacles and impediments to their traditional links with the Russian Federation. This is in the interests both of Russia and would-be members of the EU from Central Europe or the Baltic countries.

There is a set of humanitarian problems, too. You have just mentioned the importance of minority languages, and I would again like to bring up the positive experience of Scandinavian countries and Finland in terms of supporting the languages of ethnic minorities. This experience and these standards must be applied to the Russian-speaking population in the Baltic countries. There must be a common European standard. We want nothing beyond that standard for the Russians living in the Baltic countries. I think that is absolutely fair.

But we can also speak about common European standards in the humanitarian sphere. If for example, the Albanians in Macedonia who account for 20% of the population in some of the country’s regions, are pressing their demands for making their language an official language, if proportional representation of the Albanians in the government bodies and even in the police force is regarded as fair – I am not going into the rights and wrongs of it now – then there must be common European standards. Then the same must apply to the right of the Russians who live in the Baltic countries. There should be no double standards for northern and southern Europe like there should be no different standards on humanitarian issues.

Question: The last question if I may. How are the preparations for lifting the Kursk going? Everything OK?

Vladimir Putin: Yes, everything is OK. As you know, our European partners, including Holland, are actively involved. The first challenge to be addressed during the lifting operation is of course nuclear safety and environmental safety. In fact, one of the reasons for lifting the Kursk is to solve environmental problems, that is in addition to the military and moral obligations to the families of the dead sailors.

If the nuclear reactor can be lifted from the seabed it must be done. Experts, including from Europe, say it is possible, and Russia is doing it partly in accordance with our obligations to preserve the environment in that part of Europe. Water samples are constantly being taken, not only close to the submarine, but directly from inside it. These samples are studied by our experts and are sent to Holland for analysis. There are no signs that would give cause for concern.