According to the Russians, Rydman’s statement about “shooting oneself in the foot” shows that the sanctions have failed and led to Finland’s economic crisis.
Russian state news agency Ria Novosti says that “Finland criticizes the idea of banning the import of nickel from Russia”.
The news agency justifies the claim by the Minister of Economic Affairs by Wille Rydman (ps.) With the statement given to . Rydman explained to the continued transportation of Russian nickel and fertilizers to Finland despite the sanctions of the war in Ukraine.
– It doesn’t make any sense that when we want to show Russia that we don’t accept their actions, we would show it by shooting ourselves in the foot, Rydman said.
According to Rydman, Finland and other western countries are dependent on the nickel refinery produced by the Russian company Nornickel.
Now the Russian media consider Rydman’s statement as a confirmation that the economic sanctions against Russia have failed. Ria Novosti quotes Rydman for shooting himself in the foot verbatim.
– The West does not have the courage to admit the failure of the sanctions against the Russian Federation. Western countries themselves have repeatedly expressed opinions that the sanctions against Russia are ineffective, Ria Novosti writes in its article on the subject.
Ria Novosti also reports that deliveries of Russian nickel and fertilizers to Finland will continue and that the Russian Nornickel factory in Harjavalta is to increase its capacity by one and a half times.
Also Russian online media Pravda.ru tells about the continued nickel trade through Finland despite the sanctions. According to Pravda, sanctions are the cause of Finland’s economic crisis.
– The (nickel) trade became a way to circumvent the sanctions against Russia, which the European Union imposed after the start of a special military operation. As a result, Finland faced serious economic difficulties, including a recession and an increase in local business bankruptcies, Pravda writes.
Pravda’s article is based on a Russian news agency of EURASIA Daily (EADaily) to the news, which according to the title “Finland holds on to imports of strategic metal from Russia”.
Finland was the first to report on the Russian media’s comments Evening newspaper.