Finnish President speaks about three-stage plan to end Ukraine war
Photo: President of Finland Alexander Stubb (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
President of Finland Alexander Stubb spoke about three steps for a peaceful settlement of the war in Ukraine on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. The first step is to make Ukraine strong for negotiations.
The first phase is preliminary negotiations, and this is the moment when Europe needs to rearm Ukraine and put maximum pressure on Russia. This means sanctions and using frozen assets so that Ukraine starts these negotiations from a position of strength.
The second stage is a direct ceasefire agreement. Stubb believes that the ceasefire should be along the contact line under international control.
Also at this stage, according to the Finnish president, there should be discussions on the parameters of the peace process, as well as the return of prisoners, children, and matters with sanctions, etc.
The third stage, according to Stubb, will be peace talks on reconstruction and territorial issues.
He emphasized that it is non-negotiable that Ukraine decides on its own whether to join the EU and NATO. Russia also should not have any influence on what the future European security architecture will look like.
US does not see Europe in the talks
Yesterday, February 15, US Special Envoy Keith Kellogg said at the Munich Security Conference that he did not see Europe physically at the table during the negotiations on Ukraine. His remark caused criticism among EU countries.
Europe insists that it should be a party to the negotiations, especially if it sends troops to Ukraine in the future. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that Ukraine should decide who will be at the talks.
The EU foreign ministers held an emergency meeting in Munich and announced new initiatives regarding Ukraine. Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron convened a European summit in Paris.
