Finnish President Stubb Stresses U.S. Support for Ukraine Important in Interview with Yomiuri Shimbun

By Kentaro Nakajima and Takuya Muraoka / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

13:33 JST, June 15, 2025

Finnish President Alexander Stubb said in a recent interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun that continued U.S. involvement in Ukraine is important to end Russia’s aggression against the country.

While Russia and Ukraine have held direct talks twice since May, negotiations have made little progress. Ukraine called for a ceasefire, but Russia rejected it, demanding Ukraine become a neutral country.

“Russia and Putin are not serious about the ceasefire,” said Stubb, who assumed the presidency in March 2024. “That’s why they are putting forward demands and papers, which are completely unacceptable and violate any tenant of international rules, law and norms.”

“They’re sending such low-level delegations to Istanbul who basically don’t have any kind of a mandate to negotiate,” added Stubb, who has previously served as Finland’s prime minister, finance minister and foreign minister.

Stubb said there are two ways to force Russia to the negotiating table: applying sanctions and providing military and financial aid to Ukraine.

“That is then linked to air defenses like HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) [of the United States] or Tauruses that the Germans and others are providing,” Stubb said. “So, these are the only things. We have to understand that the only language that Putin understands is power.”

The Finnish president emphasized the importance of continued U.S. involvement in Ukraine.

“That’s why we keep on engaging a lot with our American friends, and especially with [U.S.] President [Donald] Trump, to convince our friends to be tough with the Russians,” he said.

In March, Stubb met with Trump at his residence in Florida and played golf with him. Stubb said he has been in contact with the U.S. president on a regular basis since then.

Trump has recently criticized Putin, but his stance on support for Ukraine has not been clear.

“I think President Trump is adamant to end this war,” Stubb said. “He wants to do that, and he wants to do it sooner, rather than later, and I sense frustration with the fact that he hasn’t been able to do that yet, and I know that in the heart of his heart, he sort of knows that it’s Putin’s fault.”

Stubb said a new U.S. sanction package would be a good incentive to force Russia to the negotiating table.

Regarding Finland’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 2023, Stubb said, “We feel that we have a lot of responsibility inside the alliance, and I’m sure that will continue, but we also need close alliances with countries like Japan.”