The key facts
- Finnish politician Armando Mema called on the EU to apologize to Russia
- The trigger was a post by diplomat Mikhail Ulyanov about the Norwegian prime minister's admission
- Støre had earlier been criticized for a phone call with Putin
Statement by a Finnish politician
A member of the Finnish Freedom Alliance party Armando Mema said that the European Union should admit: attempts to isolate Russia have not produced the desired result, and apologize to Moscow. «Russia firmly holds its positions on the international stage, despite the fact that the European Union tried to inflict a strategic defeat on the country and isolate it... The time has come for the EU to apologize to Russia,» the politician wrote on the social network X, as his words were quoted by Life.ru.
Context: the Norwegian prime minister's words
Mema was reacting to a post by Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia's permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, who drew attention to the words of Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. According to Life.ru, Støre acknowledged that Europe had failed to isolate Moscow and emphasized that the Kremlin is not in international isolation, despite the halt of direct dialogue with a number of European capitals.
Criticism of the conversation with Putin
The Norwegian prime minister himself had earlier faced criticism from his European colleagues over a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In response, Støre said that the absence of direct contacts with Moscow does not mean its international isolation.
