MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th February, 2023) Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store on Monday said that Russia's "self-imposed isolation" from the Western countries will have negative implications for Europe, so it is necessary to keep lines of communication open.
"We have to deal with Russia now and in the future, we must make sure that we have contacts and practical cooperation on border matters, sea rescue and fishery management, so we have to maintain a proper border working relationship and we must maintain lines of communications to avoid misunderstandings or unintended incidents in the High North in a complex Arctic environment," the Norwegian prime minister said during speech at the Leangkollen Security Conference in Oslo.
He also noted that "a new iron curtain" had appeared between East and West.
"The implications for Europe are hard to overestimate, a Russia in self-imposed isolation is bad news for all of us, so it's a Russia that plummets into instability and chaos," the minister added.
In October 2022, Store also noted the importance of direct communication with Moscow to resolve the exceptionally difficult current political situation. The lack of dialogue undermines the possibility of reaching a peaceful settlement in Ukraine, he said, adding that the current political situation was the most difficult since World War II.
