PM heard about US-Russia meeting in news broadcast

Vanhanen would have liked more information on talks of military chiefs

Tarja Halonen

Juhani Kaskeala

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Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) says that “it would have been desirable” for a wider circle of people to have known in advance about Tuesday’s meeting between commanders of the US and Russian armed forces in Finland.
      “I would not have minded if this would have been more broadly known politically, but no harm has been done. Finland has been a technical host in this”, Vanhanen said to Helsingin Sanomat on Wednesday.
      Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, and his Russian colleague, General Nikolai Makarov met on Tuesday at the Königstedt Manor in Vantaa. The agenda is believed to have included the aftermath of the conflict in Georgia.
     
Those knowing in advance of the meeting included President Tarja Halonen, and Finland’s Chief of Defence Juhani Kaskeala. Key ministers in setting Finland’s foreign policy were not among the recipients of the information.
      Prime Minister Vanhanen had learned a few weeks ago that some kind of a meeting was being planned in Königstedt.
      “I did not know the level of the meeting. It came as a pleasant surprise”, he said on Wednesday.
      He learned about the level of the meeting when he heard about it on a news broadcast in the evening.
      Preparations for the meeting were dealt with mainly by aides of the Chief of Defence and the President. The government had no role.
     
“This was a meeting of soldiers. Apparently the thinking was that it is, by nature, part of military cooperation”, Vanhanen said.
      “As I said, it would have been good for this to have been known more extensively. Finland was not involved in this on a foreign policy level in any other way than in organising the technical framework”, Vanhanen says.
      Both ministers at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Minister for Foreign Affairs Alexander Stubb (Nat. Coalition Party) and Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Paavo Väyrynen were also kept out of the loop.
      Chief of Defence Kaskeala is currently in Afghanistan, inspecting Finnish peacekeeping forces there, and no other comments were forthcoming from the Defence Forces.
     
“The starting point has always been that the sides to the talks, Russia and the United States, will give out information if they feel it necessary. We cannot do that”, is all that Defence Staff spokesman Ossi Kervinen would say.
      It was stated unofficially at the Defence Staff that Kaskeala was not really the host of the visit: Finland as a whole hosted the meeting, and Kaskeala acted as the country’s representative.
      Jarmo Viinanen, Chief of Staff at the President’s office, could not be reached for comment.
      According to different sources, the initiative for the meeting came from Russia. Helsingin Sanomat has learned that the proposal that Finland should be the venue came from the United States.
      The Königstedt Manor has been a venue for numerous confidential meetings. Visitors have included representatives of politics, economics, and diplomacy, some of whom have not even signed the guest book.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  USA and Russia meet for secret talks in wake of Georgia war (22.10.2008)
  Leaders of US and Russian armed forces hold meeting in Finland (21.10.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat