Donald Trump is the "only individual who can pressure" Russian head Vladimir Putin to participate in dialogue regarding the conflict in Ukraine, Finland's president has stated.
Alexander Stubb further mentioned that Finland would not ever accept annexed Crimea as within Russia, and that he aimed to guarantee Ukraine transitioned to an EU and hopefully NATO member when the war were over.
Ahead of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's discussions with Trump at the White House on Friday, during which he told the US president: "I believe we can end this conflict with your support."
Simultaneously, Trump revealed that Putin has agreed to meet in person with him in Hungary.
Conflict Resolution Attempts and Economic Pressure
The US leader remarked on Friday that Putin "desires to get it ended. I am convinced that President Zelensky desires to get it concluded. Now we have to get it accomplished".
Zelensky expressed at the White House that Ukraine was ready to talk in whichever format and wanted peace, but maintained that Putin needed to be "pressured" into ending the war.
Stubb shared that Trump had earlier asked him - over a game of golf - whether he could trust Putin; and Stubb's reply was negative.
"The necessity is not primarily the effectiveness of the incentive to convince Russia to the peace talks, it's instead the stick that will force them.
"So you have to pressure Russia to approach to the peace talks for peace and that's the agreement President Trump is trying to make."
Financial Sanctions and Strategic Considerations
Stubb was hopeful about Trump's capacity, remarking he thought peace negotiations had presumably progressed more in the past eight months during Trump's second term than in the prior three years.
Russia seized the Crimean territory in 2014 and initiated a comprehensive attack of Ukraine in 2022.
Stubb emphasized that Finland would never acknowledge Crimea, or the territories of Donetsk or Luhansk, as Russian territory. Russia controls 70% of Donetsk and nearly all of adjacent Luhansk.
He stated "the sole parties who can determine on the territorial issue are the Ukrainians directly".
"I want to guarantee that Ukraine, when this hostilities is over, preserves its autonomy, retains its autonomy - that is to say becomes an EU participating nation and ideally a NATO member - and additionally upholds its national boundaries. That is what we are all working towards currently," Stubb stated.
Financial Difficulties and Prospective Outlook
Stubb noted that Russia's economy - inferior to Italy's - was facing challenges, with the country's reserves reduced, growth "almost around zero", and inflation elevated to between 10% and 20%.
Stubb proposed economic threats should be utilized to compel Russia to the negotiations, primarily giving €200bn worth of blocked Russian resources to Ukraine as a advance that would stay there if Russia did not pay reparations after peace negotiations.
He also desired to see shipments of Russian oil and gas to Europe - which have decreased by 80% - cut off. Sanctions could be put on countries that buy Russian oil and gas, he commented, in combined with the latest European measures aimed at Russia.
Tactical Evaluation and Conflict Resolution Initiative
Stubb declared "each of the tactical games of Putin have been an complete setback". Russia had been unsuccessful in trying to occupy Ukraine, to divide Europe and to separate NATO, with two new members - Finland and Sweden - joined conversely.
He mentioned Europe's "alliance of the willing" was ready to provide protection assurances to Ukraine, with the essential support in the aerial domain, on the oceans and with intelligence.
But they required a safety net from the US, especially in aerial protection, intelligence and operations, he added.
Stubb shared he expected to see some results from a two-part peace process - the primary a halt in hostilities to stop the loss of life and the second an extended peace initiative - "in coming days and weeks".
"We'll persist in working at it. The key is to participate and try to identify solutions and be realistic. In foreign policy you always have to handle the world as it is, not what you would wish it to be, but let's achieve peace."
