Russia, US military chiefs ‘to discuss current issues’ in Finland on Friday – Helsinki

The Finnish Defense Forces said a top US military chief will meet his Russian counterpart in Helsinki to discuss “current issues between the countries,” AP reported. The meeting on Friday of Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Russia’s chief of the military’s General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, “takes place on the initiative of both countries,” according to the Finnish military. It said on Thursday that Dunford and Gerasimov will also meet separately with Finland’s president and its military chief. The Finns will not take part in the US-Russia meeting. In April, NATO’s top military officer, US Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, and Gerasimov met in Baku for the first such encounter since relations between Moscow and the alliance sank to post-Cold War lows over the Ukrainian crisis.