13:15 25-08-2025

Alexander Stubb: Europe’s Relations With Russia Will Change Forever

Magnus Fröderberg/norden.org, CC BY 2.5 DK, via Wikimedia Commons

Finnish President Alexander Stubb stated that Europe’s relations with Russia will only resume after peace in Ukraine, but they will never return to their old form.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb believes Europe will eventually restore ties with Russia once the conflict in Ukraine comes to an end. At the same time, he made it clear that these relations will never return to the form they had in the past.

Speaking at the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference on the Aland Islands, Stubb stressed that contacts between Russia and the countries of the Baltic region remain «frozen." He added that any renewed dialogue with Moscow would only be possible after what he described as a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.

According to the Finnish leader, future cooperation with Russia will look fundamentally different from the arrangements that existed before the outbreak of the conflict.

Stubb had previously underlined that Finland intends to build relations with Russia in a pragmatic way, guided by practical interests, once the fighting in Ukraine is over.