'Ending Syria war key to resolving refugee crisis in Europe'

The key to resolving the refugee crisis in Europe is to end the civil war in Syria, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said on Friday.

Niinisto told Finnish media that it was important to talk about ways to end the civil war in Syria, as more than 4 million Syrians have been forced to flee abroad, Xinhua reported.

"The solution to the problem can be another dimension than receiving refugees," the president was quoted as saying.

Niinisto said there have been some signs that the United States and Russia have started the discussion on resolving the crisis in Syria. He said it is a good thing.

The Finnish president hoped that the US and Russia could move closer to ending the conflicts in Syria.

Since the beginning of this year, a large number of refugees have come to the European Union.

According to the latest figures published by the International Organisation for Migration, so far there have been 237,000 migrants crossing the Mediterranean into Europe.

The Finnish Immigration Service predicted last month that the number of asylum seekers arriving in Finland in 2015 may rise to 15,000.