{"id":2601353,"date":"2026-05-11T16:59:01","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T20:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hawkish-finnish-president-says-its-time-to-start-talking-to-russia\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T17:00:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T21:00:21","slug":"hawkish-finnish-president-says-its-time-to-start-talking-to-russia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hawkish-finnish-president-says-its-time-to-start-talking-to-russia\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawkish Finnish president says it&#8217;s &#8216;time to start talking to Russia&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhawkish-finnish-president-says-its-time-to-start-talking-to-russia%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2601353&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Finnish President Alexander Stubb-widely seen as hawkish on Russia-said Europe should <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/china-supportive-of-peace-talks-between-us-and-russia-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"China supportive of ... ... between US and Russia - Washington Examiner\">begin direct talks<\/a> with Russia, though he did not give a specific timeline. He argued that any dialog must be coordinated among European leaders,especially the E5 (Germany,France,Italy,the UK,and Poland) and the Nordic and Baltic states that border Russia. Stubb previously suggested that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-sends-angry-christmas-message-aimed-at-biden-and-jack-smith\/\" title=\"...&#039;s furious Christmas message targets Biden and Jack Smith\">political channels<\/a> with Russia would eventually need to be reopened, but he had not pinned down when.<\/p>\n<p>In related remarks, he urged European calm about the Trump management, suggesting the U.S.would not wholly withdraw from Europe. He also indicated that peace in Ukraine likely would not be achieved this year. His comments come alongside a new Russia-Ukraine ceasefire that has mostly held despite accusations of violations.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<article class=\"fn-body\">\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/finland\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"2646\">Finnish<\/a> President Alexander Stubb, one of the most bellicose leaders in the <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/european-union\/\" type=\"post_tag\" id=\"1177\">European Union<\/a>, said Monday that it was time for Europe to start direct talks with Russia.<\/p>\n<p>Stubb was an early advocate of Finland\u2019s accession into NATO and has used his good relationship with President Donald Trump to communicate the hawkish position vis-\u00e0-vis the Russia-Ukraine war to Washington. Despite his support for Ukraine, Stubb had begun flirting with the idea of eventually opening up talks with Russia in recent months. In a Monday <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.corriere.it\/esteri\/26_maggio_11\/alexander-stubb-finlandia-putin-intervista-ae9e981c-8a2b-4cf2-9377-33493d5daxlk.shtml\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/www.corriere.it\/esteri\/26_maggio_11\/alexander-stubb-finlandia-putin-intervista-ae9e981c-8a2b-4cf2-9377-33493d5daxlk.shtml\">interview<\/a> with the Italian outlet <em>Corriere della Sera<\/em>, the Finnish president said the time to start talking to Russia is now.<\/p>\n<section class=\"explore-more-section\" id=\"wex-recommended-widget\">\n<div class=\"magazine-container single\">\n<h1 class=\"magazine-title mt-2\">Recommended Stories<\/h1>\n<p>             <i class=\"fa-solid fa-play icon\"><\/i>         <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-grid\">\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4563391\/finland-president-stubb-russia-ukraine-talks\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Hawkish Finnish president says it\u2019s \u2018time to start talking to Russia\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/4562765\/trump-iran-nuclear-dust\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Trump says Iran agreed to give up the \u2018nuclear dust\u2019 but the US has to take it out<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<div class=\"explore-card\">                         <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/policy\/foreign-policy\/4562385\/trump-iran-proposal-totally-unacceptable\/?itm_source=parsely-api\">                             <\/p>\n<div class=\"explore-thumb-wrap\">                                                                                                                                  <\/div>\n<h3>Trump says latest Iran peace proposal is \u2018totally unacceptable\u2019<\/h3>\n<p>                         <\/a>                     <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p>\u201cYes, it\u2019s time to start talking to Russia,\u201d Stubb told the outlet. <\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>The Finnish president was less certain of when the dialogue would actually begin but said it was a discussion among European leaders. He implied the main trouble was logistical.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe most important thing is that everything must be coordinated among us, especially between the E5 [Germany, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Poland] and the Nordic and Baltic countries, who are on the border,\u201d he said. \u201cIf it is a special envoy or a group of leaders, we will see.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In previous comments about communicating with Russia, Stubb said he believed a time was coming when lines would have to be opened with Russia but stopped short of explicitly saying when.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do think that we are approaching the moment when <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >political conversational channels<\/a> have to be open with Russia,\u201d he said at a Chatham House event in March.<\/p>\n<p>In April comments to Estonian media, he said a resumption of contact was inevitable and \u201cthe only question is when.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong><a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/world\/4560447\/how-al-qaeda-repositioned-itself-dominate-central-sahel\/\" type=\"post\" id=\"4560447\">HOW AL QAEDA REPOSITIONED ITSELF TO DOMINATE THE CENTRAL SAHEL<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere in the interview with <em>Corriere della Sera<\/em>, Stubb urged calm among European leaders concerning Trump, saying Washington wouldn\u2019t fully withdraw from Europe. He also speculated that peace in Ukraine wasn\u2019t on the table at any time this year.<\/p>\n<p>His comments come as the first ceasefire struck in the Russia-Ukraine war, a three-day period coinciding with the celebration of Victory Day, commemorating the Soviet Union\u2019s victory over Nazi Germany. Though each side has accused the other of violations, the ceasefire has largely held.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Finnish President Alexander Stubb says Europe should begin direct talks with Russia<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2653,"featured_media":2601354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26124302797141.jpg?w=696","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[3817,7625,50459,4280],"class_list":["post-2601353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-diplomacy","tag-finland","tag-nato-2","tag-russia"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/AP26124302797141.jpg?w=696","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2601353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2653"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2601353"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2601353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2601357,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2601353\/revisions\/2601357"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2601354"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2601353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2601353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2601353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}