Finland says Russia set to terminate settlement on army visits

Finnish border guards stand close to border fence with Russia in Pelkola, Finland April 14, 2023. (Photograph: Deccan Herald)

OSLO (Reuters) – Russia has knowledgeable neighbouring Finland that it’ll terminate a bilateral settlement on mutual visits to army installations, the Finnish defence ministry stated late on Tuesday.

The bilateral settlement, signed in 2000, supplied for one annual Russian evaluation go to to Finland and an analogous go to by Finland to the Leningrad Army District in north-west Russia, the Finnish ministry stated in a press release.

Finland final month joined the NATO army alliance in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, drawing a menace from Moscow of “counter-measures.”

The bilateral settlement, final utilized in 2019 earlier than the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, was amongst a number of post-Chilly Conflict measures taken to enhance East-West relations.

The broader Vienna Act, agreed throughout the framework of the Organisation for Safety and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which additionally supplies for mutual inspection and analysis visits, wouldn’t be affected by the termination, Finland stated.

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik; Modifying by Conor Humphries)