Finnish FM Elina Valtonen: Corruption scandal will not affect Finland’s aid to Ukraine | News

Valtonen was in Estonia last week to mark the 107th anniversary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In an interview with ETV’s foreign affairs show “Välisilm,” she was asked to comment on a recent statement by Finland’s former President Sauli Niinistö, who said Europe should start direct negotiations with Russia, which sparked widespread debate in Finland.

Valtonen said it is still too early for European countries to begin direct talks with Russia.

“In my view, Europe has acted with truly exceptional unity in this matter. We have supported Ukraine and, at the same time, strengthened our own deterrence and defense, while imposing significant sanctions on the Russian economy. This is a truly extraordinary strategy that we have managed to maintain for nearly four years now. That is the right approach, and indeed, negotiations with Russia can take place once it becomes clear that Russia is interested in peace or returns to respecting international law,” she told the show.

Elina Valtonen. Source: ERR

Valtonen believes the EU’s sanctions policy is effective but should be strengthened.

“First, because Russia invests a great deal of effort into circumventing sanctions, and a large portion of the EU’s sanctions packages over the past few years have focused on preventing this circumvention. Secondly, when new entities are identified that can be sanctioned, or when consensus is reached for imposing sanctions, it’s a good opportunity to tighten the sanctions regime even further,” the minister said.

Speaking about Ukraine and a recent $100 million corruption scandal, Valtonen pointed out that Russia has never given Ukraine the chance to build a corruption-free society during its short period of independence. Alongside building its state, Ukraine has constantly had to fight back against Russia’s intense pressure, including military since 2014.

“With that in mind, our support for Ukraine will certainly not weaken. But we also want to be more vigilant than before. Not only for the sake of our taxpayers’ money, which is, of course, of primary importance to the Finnish foreign minister, but also for the sake of the Ukrainian people — corruption must be rooted out. That is why, as Finland and as part of the international community, we monitor the situation closely. For example, last July, when legislation was drafted concerning anti-corruption oversight officials that would have reduced their independence, we protested, and Ukraine amended the law very quickly,” she said.

Elina Valtonen. Source: Estonian MFA.

The foreign minister said Hungary and Slovakia, which consistently spread Russian narratives within the European Union, are a separate problem.

Valtonen stressed that the EU must not and cannot interfere in these countries’ internal affairs, but just as firmly, it must find ways to prevent a situation in which certain member states begin to torpedo the EU’s common policies.

“In the EU, we must find tools to implement a unified security and foreign policy, even when full consensus is not always achieved. The EU will likely expand in the coming years, and reaching full consensus among 27 countries is already difficult, let alone when there are even more of us,” she said.

“Therefore, we must find a way to use qualified majority voting when it comes to important foreign and security policy issues, such as sanctions. At the same time, I think it’s a completely legitimate question to ask: why should Finnish taxpayer money be spent to support a country whose behavior runs entirely counter to Finland’s interests?” she added.

You can watch the interview below in Estonian and Finnish.

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