Finnish President: Russia has no 'veto' on EU security guarantees for Ukraine
The Finnish president said the EU would not take into account Russia's interests in ensuring Kiev's security.
According to RIA Novosti, Finnish President Alexander Stubb said on September 20 that the European Union (EU) has no intention of considering Russia's interests when building security measures for Ukraine.
“For me, it doesn't matter whether Russia agrees or not. Of course they won't agree, but that's not the point,” President Stubb said.
In an interview with the newspaperThe Guardian, Mr. Stubb said that security guarantees for Ukraine would only come into effect after Moscow and Kiev reached an agreement. However, the Finnish leader stressed that Russia would “not have a veto” over the form these guarantees would take.
Asked whether those assurances meant European nations were prepared to engage in a potential military escalation in Ukraine, President Stubb replied that “that is the nature of security guarantees.”
At a meeting in Paris in September 2025, the 26-nation “Coalition of the Willing” pledged to deploy deterrent forces in Ukraine after a ceasefire was reached. This week, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova asserted that a real security guarantee for Ukraine would be “a non-nuclear, neutral, non-bloc state.”
Earlier, on August 15, Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump met at the Elmendorf-Richardson military base in Anchorage, Alaska. The two sides discussed ways to resolve the Ukraine conflict and expressed their willingness to cooperate for a reconciliation process. Mr. Putin also emphasized that Moscow wants a long-term solution.
