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The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland, Elina Valtonen, said on Friday that she sees no chance for the quick cessation of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, despite the efforts of the USA to establish peace in Ukraine.
Her words were quoted by the DPA agency.
Valtonen said that she has little confidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin will adhere to the peace plan of the USA.
“After all that the Russians have done over the last 15 years, after they continue to attack Ukraine and conduct a treacherous hybrid war against Europe, peace with Russia is still very far away,” the Finnish minister said in a comment to the German media group Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND).
“As long as Moscow continues to focus on the economy of war and pursues political goals that go far beyond Ukraine, we cannot limit the negotiations to Ukraine and we cannot trust the Russians,” Valtonen added.
Russia, in its current form, is a threat not only to Ukraine and all of Europe but also to the entire transatlantic alliance, believes the head of Finnish diplomacy.
“Any peace plan will now fail because of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Through his words and actions, he makes it clear every day that he does not want peace,” she believes.
The minister called for the involvement of European allies at the negotiating table.
“From this important issue, a frank conversation with our partners in the USA is more urgent than ever. Trump and his team must understand that negotiations with Russia concern not only Ukraine but also the security architecture of Europe as a whole,” Valtonen said.
US Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, on February 14, suggested that Europe might be involved in discussions about the resolution of the war in Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also expressed his conviction on Thursday that the European Union should be a party to the negotiation process for resolving the war in Ukraine.
