Russia tells Prime Minister Vanhanen airspace violations exaggerated

Fradkov warns against overdramatising; Finnish PM satisfied

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Russia gave Finland its response to reports of repeated violations of Finnish airspace by Russian military planes since October on Tuesday. The Russian version of the incidents was given to visiting Finnish Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen (Centre) by the Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, General Yuri Baluyevski.
      According to Russia, the recent violations of Finnish airspace by Russian warplanes were so minor, extending just one to three kilometres into Finnish territory, that it is difficult to prove that they had actually taken place.
      After their official meeting at the Russian Prime Minister’s villa in Odintsovo, south of Moscow, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov warned against overdramatising the matter.
      Prime Minister Vanhanen said that he was satisfied that Russia was no longer denying the territorial violations - even though it still did not actually concede that they had taken place.
     
Moscow officials said that if Russian planes had strayed into Finnish airspace, the incursion was not deliberate.
      Prime Minister Fradkov says that Russia has already taken measures to prevent it from happening again.
      He also said that air traffic control officials of both countries would monitor air traffic over the Gulf of Finland together, in order to get a reliable picture of what is happening there, and to avert any similar incidents.
     
Prime Minister Vanhanen noted that whereas Russia had previously denied any airspace violations, it now says that it is not possible to prove that they have objectively taken place.
      The Finnish Prime Minister pointed out that each person can have a different view of what is "objective".
      "When the matter has been noted with the help of measurements, it is quite clear. I think that the way that Russia presented its views shows that they admit that something happened. Naturally it was awkward for them that the matter is brought forward on the political level."
      Vanhanen added that dealing with the matter did not cause any problems for relations between Finland and Russia, even though Russia did not make any direct admissions.
     
One of the members of the Prime Minister’s delegation, Finnish Minister of Foreign Trade Paula Lehtomäki (Centre), said that the question of a new lease agreement for the Saimaa Canal has moved forward from consultation to negotiations. The present lease expires in 2013. The Saimaa Canal, which runs through Russian territory, links the Finnish Saimaa Waterway with the Gulf of Finland.
      There was unexpected news of a possible delay in setting up a high-speed rail link between Helsinki and St. Petersburg.
      Russia says that the track improvements are proving to be more expensive than expected.
      Juhani Korpela, Chief of Staff at the Ministry of Transport and Communications, notes that rail projects in Russia are the domain of the transport company in question.
      "The problem is that track projects are not very profitable anywhere in the world. That is why they are the domain of the state in Finland", Korpela explained.
      Minister of Transport Leena Luhtanen (SDP) says that Finland is still holding on to its target of opening the high-speed rail link in 2008. She says that new calculations are to be made.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  PM Vanhanen to discuss Russian airspace violations in Moscow today (7.6.2005)
  Russia officially denies - and tacitly admits - airspace violations (2.6.2005)

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