{"id":293729,"date":"2025-04-30T01:56:06","date_gmt":"2025-04-30T01:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/30\/finnish-leader-warns-russia-you-dont-play-with-president-trump\/"},"modified":"2025-04-30T01:56:06","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T01:56:06","slug":"finnish-leader-warns-russia-you-dont-play-with-president-trump","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/30\/finnish-leader-warns-russia-you-dont-play-with-president-trump\/","title":{"rendered":"Finnish Leader Warns Russia: \u2018You Don\u2019t Play With President Trump\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/04\/28\/multimedia\/00finland-1-pgzm\/00finland-1-pgzm-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Finnish Leader Warns Russia: \u2018You Don\u2019t Play With President Trump\u2019\" title=\"Finnish Leader Warns Russia: \u2018You Don\u2019t Play With President Trump\u2019\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A day after they golfed together in Florida, President Trump said he was \u201cpissed off\u201d at the Kremlin and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/trump-angry-putin-zelenskyy-iran-sanctions-rcna198729\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">threatened<\/a> to impose sanctions on Russia\u2019s oil customers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Hours after they sat next to each other at Pope Francis\u2019 funeral in Vatican City, Mr. Trump lit into Moscow for shooting missiles at civilian areas in Ukraine. \u201cToo many people are dying!!!\u201d Mr. Trump wrote <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/truthsocial.com\/@realDonaldTrump\/posts\/114404524335638236\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">on Truth Social<\/a> on Saturday, again threatening Russia with sanctions if the Kremlin strung him along.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">It could be a coincidence. Or Mr. Trump could be listening to Finland\u2019s president, Alexander Stubb, who has emerged as a prominent voice of Europe\u2019s smaller nations on Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In an interview with The New York Times on Sunday, Mr. Stubb downplayed his effect on Mr. Trump. He noted that President Emmanuel Macron of France and Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain were leading European efforts, with his role being merely to \u201cnudge things in the right direction\u201d and \u201ctry to connect the dots.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Mr. Stubb\u2019s country understands the peril of peace negotiations for Ukraine perhaps better than any other. After wars with the Soviet Union in the 1940s, Finland gave up land to Moscow, agreed to neutrality and accepted limits on its military, remaining under the Kremlin\u2019s thumb to some degree for decades.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Stubb doesn\u2019t want Ukraine to suffer the same fate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He declined to detail his conversations with the American president, though he said he left Vatican City feeling \u201ca tad more optimistic\u201d about the prospects for peace. But Mr. Trump, after their two recent meetings, has repeated almost verbatim the very message Mr. Stubb has been sending publicly: President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia will \u201cplay a cat-and-mouse game to the bitter end\u201d and is stringing Washington along, requiring Mr. Trump to increase the pressure through \u201cpower and sanctions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cEveryone has to understand that the only thing that Putin understands is power,\u201d Mr. Stubb said. \u201cI mean, there\u2019s a reason why Finland has one of the strongest militaries in Europe, and the reason is not Sweden.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Russia shares an 835-mile border with Finland, and by Mr. Stubb\u2019s count, has fought 30 wars or skirmishes against the Finns since the 1300s. An ancestor of his coauthored Finland\u2019s declaration of independence in 1917, after a century of Finland\u2019s being part of the Russian Empire, which followed several centuries of rule by Sweden.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Stubb, who took office last year and previously served as prime minister, warned that Mr. Putin would do the opposite of what he says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThat is in the soul and spirit of Russian international relations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A center-right leader, Mr. Stubb, 57, is uniquely equipped to appeal to Mr. Trump. He is a 6-foot-2 marathoner and triathlete who speaks fluent English with only a slight accent, plays near-professional-level golf \u2014 he competed on the Finnish national team \u2014 and brings a central-casting look to his position. He spent a year of high school in Daytona Beach and graduated from Furman University in South Carolina. He studied on a golf scholarship, becoming a self-described \u201cavid pro-American.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Despite claiming to play a bit role, Mr. Stubb has inserted himself in the Ukraine peace process in what he calls \u201ca humble way,\u201d regularly speaking with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and other European leaders, in addition to Mr. Trump. He says he hopes his special understanding of the United States and Russia can be of assistance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He said he sensed Mr. Trump\u2019s exasperation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe president is running out of patience, and we\u2019ve now seen statements which are quite tough on Putin and Russia,\u201d Mr. Stubb said. \u201cSo I just hope the Kremlin understands that you don\u2019t play with President Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He said Mr. Trump\u2019s diminished patience could \u201cactually then move things in the right direction\u201d by forcing Russia to stop delaying.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Mr. Trump has been known to abruptly change his public stances, often aligning them with people he has recently consulted. And despite his warnings to the Kremlin, he hasn\u2019t followed through with any increased pressure on Mr. Putin, instead aiming much of his ire at Mr. Zelensky.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Putin declared a unilateral 72-hour cease-fire on Monday in what seemed to be a response to Mr. Trump\u2019s outburst. But the measure fell far short of the 30-day unconditional cease-fire proposed by the United States and Ukraine.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In many ways, Finland sees itself in Ukraine\u2019s troubles.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Soviet leader Joseph Stalin invaded Finland in 1939, expecting a quick conquest in what became known as the Winter War. Vastly outmanned and outgunned, the Finns mounted a fierce resistance for more than three months, attacking unprepared Soviet forces on skis and sniping them from the forest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The war ended in a 1940 treaty that forced Finland to give up approximately 10 percent of its land to Moscow, including much of Karelia, where Mr. Stubb\u2019s father and grandfather were born. That territory remains part of Russia today.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Finns joined Nazi Germany\u2019s invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 to reclaim their territory, but then lost it again in 1944. Agreements followed that restricted Finland\u2019s military strength and prevented it from aligning with Western powers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For the next 47 years, until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Finland retained its independence and capitalist system but remained restricted by Moscow on foreign and defense policy. Finnish news media largely refrained from criticizing the Soviet Union. The country couldn\u2019t join NATO or develop a submarine fleet.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Finland\u2019s situation gave rise to an uneasy existence of deference to a nearby superpower in foreign affairs, an arrangement political scientists labeled <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2022\/02\/09\/world\/europe\/finlandization-ukraine-russia-nato.html\" title=\"\">\u201cFinlandization.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Though it restricted Finland\u2019s autonomy and ties to the West, \u201cFinlandization\u201d proved better than the postwar fate of the nearby Baltic nations, which Moscow integrated into the Soviet Union, or the Warsaw Pact countries, which were left with Communist systems that answered to the Kremlin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt\u2019s an uncomfortable place to be in, but it was a successful strategy in all of its discomfort,\u201d Mr. Stubb said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Even so, he is determined not to let Ukraine be forced into a similar role.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI would never bestow upon another state the predicament of a larger player determining some of the key elements of who you are as a country,\u201d he said, calling on Europeans and Americans to \u201chelp out the Ukrainians to lose as little in this war as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-10\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">U.S. negotiators have presented <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/23\/world\/europe\/ukraine-cease-fire-talks-london.html\" title=\"\">their proposed outline<\/a> of a peace deal, which includes U.S. recognition of Crimea as Russian territory, he said, and Ukraine and the Europeans responded with <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/25\/world\/europe\/ukraine-peace-counterproposal.html\" title=\"\">a counterproposal<\/a>, which Moscow rejected.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-11\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWhat I suggest now is that we need to repackage these two proposals into something which gives the opportunity to strike a deal right now,\u201d Mr. Stubb said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Statehood consists of land, sovereignty and independence, he said, and Finland lost two of the three in the 1940s. He said he wanted Ukraine to keep all three, but accepted that it might have to make compromises on territory, reflecting battlefield realities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIf we get at least two out of the three for Ukraine, I think it\u2019s great,\u201d he said. \u201cBut Finland will never, ever recognize any of the areas that Russia has annexed during this war from Ukraine.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He said he believed that \u201ca little bit of creative writing\u201d could be drafted to stop the killing in Ukraine, even reflecting differences such as the U.S. willingness to recognize Crimea as Russian and the European refusal to do so in separate annexes. At some point, he added, Ukraine and Russia will need to negotiate directly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-12\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cRight now, politically, the key is to maximize the pressure on Putin,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-13\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He said the security guarantees for Ukraine should include arming Kyiv \u201cto the teeth,\u201d so it could deter a repeat attack by Moscow. Then, he said, Europe should provide a primary security guarantee with a \u201cbackstop from the U.S.\u201d What that looks like, he admitted, is unclear. A leaked draft of the original U.S. proposal published by Reuters suggested that the guarantors would be primarily European, and made no mention of U.S. involvement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Stubb\u2019s approach is a departure from that of his predecessor, Sauli Niinisto, sometimes called a \u201cPutin whisperer.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Niinisto played ice hockey with the Russian president and cast himself as a mediator, hosting Mr. Putin and Mr. Trump for their first summit in Helsinki in 2018. Mr. Putin\u2019s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 made that approach untenable among Finns, who broadly sympathized with Ukraine\u2019s plight, and their nation joined NATO in 2023 in response.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cTimes, they are a-changing,\u201d Mr. Stubb said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Finnish leader has shown dexterity in his dealings with Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He offered to supply the United States with icebreakers, which Finland produces and Washington needs to compete in the Arctic. He has proposed that Europe buy more American liquefied natural gas to even the trade balance with Washington. He has played up his time in South Carolina, meeting with Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican of that state, and having dinner with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, a native of the state.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-14\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And he has offered positive words publicly about Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Stubb understands that for his nation of 5.6 million people, outnumbered by Russia by more than 25 to 1, foreign policy isn\u2019t a game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cFor a small country like Finland, living next to a bigger place like Russia, quite often it\u2019s about survival,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, for us, foreign policy is real. It\u2019s existential.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/04\/29\/world\/europe\/finland-stubb-russia-trump-ukraine.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A day after they golfed together in Florida, President Trump said he was \u201cpissed off\u201d at the Kremlin and threatened to impose sanctions on Russia\u2019s oil customers. Hours after they sat next to each other at Pope Francis\u2019 funeral in Vatican City, Mr. Trump lit into Moscow for shooting missiles at civilian areas in Ukraine. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293730,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/04\/28\/multimedia\/00finland-1-pgzm\/00finland-1-pgzm-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[137233,163575,553,21600,10282,3096,1891,163751,103120,1557,137131,2627,209,202,52,1130,1021,128437,128440,34139,5219,196686,8774],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293729"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=293729"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":293731,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293729\/revisions\/293731"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/293730"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=293729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=293729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=293729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}