Finnish President calls for European special envoy for Ukraine

Finnish President Alexander Stubb stated this in an interview with France 24 during his participation in the Coalition of the Willing summit in Paris, according to Ukrinform.

“We (Europeans) need two things. One is a negotiating team, just like the Americans, the Ukrainians and the Russians have. And they had that in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. And then probably eventually we need a special envoy who would be kind of in charge and coordinating everything, because right now, although we have really good leadership coming from France and the UK, there is still that question, ‘OK, who is the European envoy? Who should I call’?” Stubb said.

Stubb expressed his satisfaction with the French and British leadership regarding the creation of the Coalition of the Willing to support Ukraine. “It’s a way to bring Britain back into Europe and get France engaged with Britain in a constructive way again. I think our mindset is very clear. We want Ukraine to win this war. We want them to retain their independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. The French and the Brits took the lead. And the rest of us are following and being engaged as best we can,” the Finnish President stated.

Regarding the possibility of peacekeepers being deployed in Ukraine, Stubb explained: “A lot of people are getting their terms and timing mixed up here. So we need to look at this in two phases. The first phase is a ceasefire. The second phase is an actual peace agreement. So for the ceasefire you need some kind of a reassurance. That means that you can help in the air, on the sea, perhaps on land. That’s the type of planning that our military staff are doing right now. And the political decisions that we take here in Paris are part of that first phase. The second phase is when peace has been maintained, settled and agreed. That’s when you put in crisis management troops or peacekeeping troops on the basis of an international mandate. So these are two quite separate things. The ceasefire is still a state of war, whereas a peace agreement, that’s when peace begins.”

At the same time, Stubb expressed skepticism about the current ceasefire initiatives.

“What we’re seeing is a classic Russian negotiating tactic. Ukraine wants a full ceasefire. Europe wants a full ceasefire. America wants a full ceasefire, and Russia forces it into a partial ceasefire, which in the first phase was energy infrastructure, which, of course, the Russians bombed immediately after they had agreed to a ceasefire. And the second phase is now a ceasefire in the Black Sea. These are all steps in the right direction. But never underestimate the capacity of Russians to break a ceasefire. They’ll continue to do it. We need a full ceasefire and that needs to be monitored,” Stubb stated.

As previously reported, the Paris summit on March 27 discussed future security guarantees for Ukraine after the war ends.

Photo: Office of the President