Vladimir Putin thanked Sauli Niinistö for the opportunity to hold Russia-US summit in Helsinki.
* * *
President of Finland Sauli Niinistö (retranslated): Mr President, Russian guests, welcome to Finland. I have yet to welcome you as you had lengthy talks with the US President.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: First, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to hold this Russia-US summit in Helsinki. Today, it seems, Helsinki has become the world's political capital.
In performing the functions of a capital, any city faces certain difficulties, I mentioned this at the news conference. We offer our apologies to city residents for any inconvenience. This meeting was indeed substantive and useful.
As regards bilateral relations, we will be able to talk about this in detail during your visit to Russia on August 22. Overall, I can say that they are developing very successfully. Last year, our mutual trade grew by 37 percent, while in the first six months of this year it grew by another 26 percent.
<…>