Estonia summons Finnish ambassador over foreign minister's comments
Estonian Foreign Minister Keit Pentus-Rosimannus said that comments made by her counterpart in Finland, Erkki Tuomioja, on an initiative to combat Russian propaganda in Europe, were "inadequate" and did not take the de facto situation into consideration.
Tuomioja told Finnish Swedish-language newspaper Hufvudstadbladet that he did not wish to see EU money spent on a propaganda, Postimees reported.
“How the Baltics have acted, it sounds like nationalism, failing to offer news in Russian,” he said, failing to notice the fact that Delfi, Postimees and ERR all offer online news in Russian, while ETV also runs Russian-language news programs.
“We cannot fail to react to the growing Russian propaganda, which clearly lies. The EU has to stand united against Russian propaganda and we made such a proposal together with Denmark, the UK and Lithuania,” Pentus-Rosimannus said.
Finnish Ambassador Kirsti Narinen was summoned on Thursday to discuss Tuomioja's comments and Estonian-Finnish relations.
Pentus-Rosimannus and her counterparts in Lithuania, Denmark and the United Kingdom are drawing up a joint letter asking the union's Foreign Affairs head, Federica Mogherini, to begin fighting against Russian propaganda.
Editor: J.M. Laats
