Quote:The head of the Russian Duma's foreign affairs committee, Alexei Pushkov, on Friday aired the possibility of imposing sanctions against Finland for the denial of an entry visa to Speaker Sergey Naryshkin and five other Russian citizens to attend an OSCE meeting in Helsinki.
Discussion has been held in the lower house of the Russian legislature, the Duma, on the possibility of imposing sanctions against Finland for denying some of its members entry visas to attend a meeting of Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Helsinki July 5-9.
The Duma on Friday issued a condemnation of Finland for refusing entry visas to its Speaker Sergei Naryshkin and five other Russian citizens all of whom are on the EU sanctions list.
According to the Interfax news agency, the chair of the Duma's foreign affairs committee, Alexei Pushkov, said Friday that he does not rule out possible sanctions. However, Pushkov stressed that the issue has to be agreed upon in collaboration with the Russian government.
The imposition of sanctions was brought up in the Duma by a Communist Party MP who made reference to legislation on special economic measures. It was this law that Russia used when it introduced sanctions banning the import of foodstuffs from the EU.
Pushkov noted that the terms of the 2006 law make it possible to impose a broad range of actions including the suspension of cooperation projects, suspension of foreign trade operations, a freeze on international trade agreements and changes to customs tariffs.
Sources: Yle
http://yle.fi/uutiset/russian_politician...nd/8127124
Quote:Russian forestry sanctions a “severe blow” to Finland, industry warns
Possible timber trade restrictions– discussed in the Duma on Friday in retaliation for a Finnish travel ban on prominent politicians – would be unfair and also harm Russia’s own economy, according to industry representatives.
Finland’s forestry sector would suffer a severe blow should the Russian government decide to introduce trade sanctions on timber, an industry spokesman has said.
Jukka Halonen, head of Russian affairs at the Finnish Forest Industries federation, told Yle that a possible embargo on Finnish timber imports would freeze the domestic forestry sector, and he insisted it would also harm Russia’s own industry.
The sanctions were mooted on Friday in the Duma in retaliation for Finland’s refusal to lift an EU travel restriction allowing a prominent Russian politician to attend a political summit in Helsinki.
“Finnish forestry has been active in Russia and has helped advance the Russian forestry industry. It seems bizarre that forestry should be suddenly singled out for punishment as a result of this political situation,” Halonen said.
OSCE Helsinki boycott
Russia’s parliament on Friday issued a condemnation of Finland for refusing entry visas to its Speaker Sergei Naryshkin and five other Russian citizens, all of whom are on the EU sanctions list. As a result, Russia refused to send a single representative to a four-day meeting of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), held in the the Finnish capital this weekend.
In Friday’s parliamentary session in Moscow, the head of Russia’s security council, Nikolai Patrushev, called on Russia to consider revising favourable trade conditions for Finland’s forestry industry, though admitted that the measures won’t necessarily come into force.
Halonen said that there has been no direct contact from anyone in Russia with the Finnish federation regarding the possible sanctions.
Mutually harmful
Last year Finland’s forestry industry sourced 13 percent of its raw materials from Russia, amounting to around 300 million euros, according to Halonen. He said that trade embargos would amount to a freeze on the industry within Finland.
”Some of the loss could be made up from within Finland and elsewhere in the Baltics, but yes it would be a severe blow to our operations,” Halonen admitted. “As is not unknown, Russia would also harm its own forestry sector by shutting down Finnish operations.”
The Finnish forestry body has sent a request to Finland’s authorities to try keep the country’s commerce and industry out of the spiralling row over visa refusals for the OSCE conference.
Meanwhile the union for Agriculture and Farming, the MTK, insisted that timber trade restrictions would only affect the country’s industry in the short term. Domestic forest supplies are sufficient to keep Finnish forestry plants active in the longer term, claimed the MTK’s Juha Hakkarainen.
However Hakkarainen warned that production of birch wood-fibre products would be hit, as they rely heavily on imports from Russia.
http://yle.fi/uutiset/russian_forestry_s...ns/8128848