President Office clarifies Marin´s absence in Nordic-Ukrainian Summit

The absence of outgoing Prime Minister Sanna Marin in the Nordic-Ukrainian Summit held in Helsinki on Wednesday raised questions among the people leading discussions in news and social media.

Responding to the consternation and various speculations, the President Office on Thursday in a statement made its clarification pointing out three reasons behind the absence of Marin in the summit of the Nordic Premiers and Ukrainian President hosted by President Sauli Niinistö.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Prime Minister of Sweden Ulf Kristersson, Prime Minister of Norway Jonas Gahr Støre, Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen and Prime Minister of Iceland Katrín Jakobsdóttir were invited to the summit but outgoing Finnish Prime Minister Marin was not invited to participate.

Marin and Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, however, were invited to the working lunch with Zelensky and they attended accordingly.

The President Office in its clarification said that Zelensky's visit was an official visit of a head of state, which usually includes a bilateral meeting between the two heads of state and a delegation discussion.

"At the invitation of President Niinistö, the Prime Minister was for the first time also present in the delegation discussion alongside the Foreign Minister during the working lunch," the statement said.

The second reason pointed out in the statement said that President Zelensky had requested the other Nordic PMs be invited to the meeting.

The agenda for the meeting and the outcome from the summit were discussed and agreed among the President's Office, the Prime Minister's Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the other Nordic prime ministers, said the statement.

Clarifying the reason behind the presence of the President alone, instead of both the President and Prime Minister, the statement in its third point said that an official meeting between six heads of state cannot involve a so-called "two-plate policy." Even in Finland, it was given up at one time as it created wonder to others.

Meanwhile, Marin in a twitter post on Wednesday wrote that she held a private conversation with the Ukrainian President.

“Today (Wednesday) I met the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky in Helsinki, where he participated in the Nordic-Ukraine summit. Finland's and other Nordic countries' support for Ukraine is steadfast. Glorious Ukraine,” Marin wrote in her twitter in Finnish.

Earlier the President Office on April 29 announced the meeting of the Nordic Prime Ministers in Helsinki scheduled for Wednesday but the participation of Zelensky at the meeting was not disclosed due to security reason.