Finland’s Stubb calls on Europe to keep its own channels to Moscow open

If U.S. policy toward Russia does not serve Europe’s interests, Europe should maintain its own channels of dialogue with Moscow, Finnish President Alexander Stubb told reporters.

“Everything, of course, starts with the question: does the policy towards Russia that the United States is currently pursuing serve Europe’s interests? And if it does not directly serve them, then it is very important that Europe also keeps the channels for dialogue open,” he said, according to Ilta-Sanomat.

Stubb said communication with Russia was already taking place at several levels. As a neighbouring country, Finland maintains dialogue with Russia, including through its border authorities. The two countries also retain diplomatic relations, under which their foreign ministries and embassies interact in Moscow and Helsinki.

“But I just want to emphasise that at some point these channels for dialogue must be open from the European side as well, and here, perhaps, the most important role is played by the countries that have a border with Russia,” he added.

According to Stubb, Europe’s need to develop its own policy toward Russia is linked to its relationship with the United States. He noted that Washington had sent NATO allies a questionnaire seeking to assess their alignment with U.S. President Donald Trump’s policy ahead of a possible reduction in U.S. troop deployments within the alliance.

Stubb said he did not regard the move as pressure, describing it instead as “the working method of the current U.S. administration.” Finland, he said, would respond to the questionnaire, although Helsinki’s position both converges with and differs from that of Washington.

Stubb also stressed that Finland was entitled to criticize U.S. actions because its foreign policy was based on an independent course as well as international institutions, norms and law — principles that, in his words, Washington is “currently abandoning.”

By Tamilla Hasanova