Today at 21:06
Finnish President Alexander Stubb, following his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, stated that the United States’ patience with Russia is “running out.”
That is according to Yle, Ukrinform reports.
After the meeting with Trump, Stubb got the impression that U.S. patience with Russia is nearing its end.
It is noted that Stubb and Trump met on Saturday, March 29, in Florida. The meeting was informal.
Stubb proposes setting a final deadline for a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine.
According to the Finnish President, he discussed with Trump the possibility of initiating a ceasefire on April 20.
He believes that to ensure compliance with the ceasefire, an effective sanctions mechanism must be established in case Russia refuses to accept it or violates it.
As reported, U.S. President Donald Trump said he was very angry when Russian leader Vladimir Putin criticized the credibility of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, noting that such comments “were not going in the right location.”
At the press conference, President Alexander Stubb spoke about his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump:
- According to Stubb, the meeting was a continuation of a one-and-a-half-week continuum of meetings that began with Zelenskyy’s visit to Finland.
- Stubb did not spend the night at Trump’s residence in Mar-a-Lago. However, the meeting itself lasted 7 hours—Trump was in a good mood.
- Discussions covered icebreakers, forests, the Winter War, NATO membership, and, most importantly, the fact that Europe must take responsibility for its own security. According to Stubb, the message to Europe was that the role of the U.S. in NATO is changing, but they are not leaving NATO.
- According to Stubb, Trump asked, “Can Vladimir Putin be trusted?”—”I replied that I cannot.”
- “I got the impression that U.S. patience is running out—which, in my opinion, is good.” According to Stubb, Trump’s patience is also wearing thin—”he is quite impatient with Russia’s actions and this kind of stalling on a ceasefire. I tried to explain that this is quite normal Russian behavior. First, they agree on something—then they set new conditions again.”
- Stubb said that he sent a signal to Trump that Russia understands only strength. And for this, sanctions and the use of frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine are needed.
