Finnish president says only Trump can force Putin into serious Ukraine peace talks
Photo: Finnish President Alexander Stubb (Getty Images)
Only US President Donald Trump is capable of forcing Russian leader Vladimir Putin to begin serious peace talks, Finnish President Alexander Stubb said in an interview with the BBC.
"What we need is not so much the power of the carrot to convince Russia to the negotiating table, it's more of the stick that will bring them. So you have to force Russia to come to the negotiating table for peace, and that's the deal President Trump is trying to make," Stubb said.
According to him, Trump offered Putin a "carrot" at the Alaska summit in August but found no understanding. After that, Washington began leaning more toward the “stick.”
Stubb believes that despite all difficulties, peace talks on Ukraine have advanced further since the start of Trump's second presidential term than in the previous three years.
He is known for his close personal ties with Donald Trump. In August, Stubb became the only leader of a small European nation to attend the White House meeting between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, a group of European leaders, and Trump.
Ahead of his meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy also held a long conversation with Stubb and said he was coordinating positions with the Finnish president.
Zelenskyy–Trump talks
On October 17, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with Donald Trump at the White House. After the talks, Trump said the United States aims to end the war without transferring long-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine.
The American president stressed that hostilities must stop along the current front line, regardless of where it runs.
