President of Finland reveals Trump's plans for peace deal in Ukraine
Photo: President of Finland Alexander Stubb (Vitalii Nosach, RBC-Ukraine)
US President-elect Donald Trump should be taken seriously when he talks about ending Russia's war against Ukraine. Negotiations are possible in the coming months, says Finnish President Alexander Stubb.
“We in Europe and the rest of the world need to understand that Donald Trump is very serious about getting a peace deal sooner rather than later,” Stubb said after a phone call with Trump.
According to him, “There’s a window of opportunity for these negotiations between the election and inauguration day.”
Trump won the election on November 5, defeating Vice President Kamala Harris, and will be inaugurated on January 20 in Washington.
Speaking at the COP29 climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, Stubb listed four preconditions for peace in Ukraine. One of them is territory - “and here we don’t know where things are going to settle,” he said. The second is security guarantees, the third is justice, and “then the low-hanging fruit is actually number four, which is reconstruction.”
Last month, the Finnish president met with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a visit to Beijing, where the topic of Russia's war also came up as Xi seeks to maintain close bilateral ties with the Kremlin.
For Finland, Russia's full-scale aggression was a wake-up call that prompted it to quickly join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization last year. Its border with Russia is over 1,300 kilometers long and makes up more than half of NATO's eastern flank.
The Scandinavian country has a history of wars with Moscow, and it has provided Kyiv with military support, including air defense and heavy munitions.
US President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized the extent of Western aid to Kyiv and promised to end the war quickly, without explaining how. His victory in last week's presidential election has raised concerns in Kyiv and other European capitals about the extent of future US commitment to helping Ukraine.
Earlier, the Washington Post reported that Putin and Trump spoke on November 7 and discussed the goal of peace in Europe. According to the agency, Trump advised Putin not to escalate the war in Ukraine and reminded him of the significant US military presence in Europe.
