Putin’s demands on Ukraine unrealistic - Finnish President
Photo: Finnish President Alexander Stubb (Getty Images)
Russia's Vladimir Putin is deliberately putting forward unacceptable conditions during the current negotiations to end the war. These demands are unrealistic, Finnish President Alexander Stubb says.
According to Stubb, the Kremlin is using typical Russian negotiation tactics. First, completely unacceptable demands are made, and then they begin to back down from them.
He also stressed that it is important for the American audience to understand the essence of Russia's territorial claims. As the Finnish President explained, Putin's demands on Ukraine are comparable to the US having to give up Florida, Georgia, South and, North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland, as well as creating a corridor for an attack on New York.
Stubb noted that such demands are unrealistic, and the Kremlin is aware of this. At the same time, he recalled that Russia has been trying to completely capture Donbas since 2014, but even after 12 years, it has not succeeded.
"And remember in the Donbas, he has been trying to get the area, he has 75% of it, but it's taking 12 years, and 50% came straight in the beginning. So, he is really advancing just a tiny bit at the time," the Finnish President stressed.
Russia's demands and negotiations in Washington
During negotiations in Alaska, Putin announced his conditions for ending the war against Ukraine to US President Donald Trump. Among the demands put forward are territorial concessions on the part of Kyiv.
Moscow has allegedly declared its readiness to leave part of the occupied territories of the Kharkiv and Sumy regions, but demands that Ukraine transfer control over the lands in the east, in particular in the Donetsk region.
During the talks at the White House, European leaders tried to convey to Trump the danger of possible concessions by Russia regarding the territories of Ukraine, the rest of the Donetsk region.
According to The Wall Street Journal, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that Moscow's demand for the entire Donbas region is equivalent to asking the US to give up Florida.
And Finnish President Alexander Stubb described the eastern Ukrainian cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk as bastions against the Huns.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy allowed for the possibility of a proportional exchange of territories, but stressed that such decisions cannot be made without taking into account the position of the Ukrainian people.
