Prime Minister Juha Sipilä (Centre) says his government will discuss the recent false reports on Fortum, a state-owned energy company, with Russia.
Prime Minister Juha Sipilä (Centre) has stated that the government will take action to correct the erroneous reporting on Fortum, a state-owned energy company, in Russia.
“The government always deals with these kinds of things. The company is primarily responsible for addressing the reports, but we’ll do our part of course,” he said during a visit to Stockholm on Tuesday. “We’ll bring up the issue in discussions [with Russia]. The most important thing is to get the right information across. This is what the world has come to. We, as well as consumers, must learn to be a little suspicious about the information circulating the world.”
Fortum revealed earlier this week that it has taken legal action to correct the erroneous reports.
“A paid, non-political smear campaign against Fortum is underway in Russia,” Kati Suurmunne, the head of communications at Fortum, tweeted on Monday. “We’re trying to use legal channels to correct the stories.”
Rossijskaja Gazeta, a Russian state-owned newspaper, wrote last week that the energy company is a genuine threat to the energy and overall security of Russia, also claiming that the company’s board chairman is the Finnish Minister of Defence.
Fortum’s board chairman is Matti Lievonen, the chief executive of Neste.
Helsingin Sanomat on Tuesday wrote that Mikhail Delyagin, a Russian economist and columnist, has admitted to providing the erroneous information and voiced his regret about his mistake to the Finnish Minister of Economic Affairs, Mika Lintilä (Centre).
Delyagin said the information was based on an article published originally in May, 2016, by Obštšaja Gazeta and republished later by Compromat.ru.
“But as neither Fortum nor its owners, including the Finnish state, have corrected information published almost two years ago in any way, I had a reason to trust the veracity of the information,” he wrote in his blog according to Helsingin Sanomat.
Aleksi Teivainen – HT Photo: Jussi Nukari – Lehtikuva Source: Uusi Suomi
