Finnish President Stubb hinted at informal contacts with Russia

The dialogue between Russia and Europe will be resumed, but not all contacts and channels of interaction should be advertised. This was announced on November 12 by Finnish President Alexander Stubb.

"Over the past year and a half, we have discussed this issue (relations with Russia — Ed.) a lot with our European colleagues <...> At some point, in some format, the dialogue will definitely be restored. I've learned from my own experience that not all negotiations and channels of influence are worth talking about publicly," Yle quoted him as saying.

According to Stubb, any contacts with Russia should be carefully coordinated between the EU countries, and their goals and format should be discussed jointly.

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Yesterday, the chairman of the Finnish Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, Johannes Koskinen, said that the European Union (EU) countries should identify a commissioner who could conduct a direct dialogue with Russia on the peaceful settlement of the conflict in Ukraine. The Finnish MP noted that such a format would help the EU countries to agree on an approach to negotiations, but did not name a specific politician who could represent a united Europe in such a dialogue.

Prior to that, on November 10, former Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said in an interview with Yle that the conflict in Ukraine had led to a further weakening of Europe's influence. He noted that the United States, China and Russia now occupy decisive positions in world politics, and European states often only follow Washington's line instead of conducting an independent dialogue with Moscow.

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