Finnish President Successfully Convinces President Trump to Pressure Putin

Finnish President Alexander Stubb played a round of golf with U.S. President Donald Trump in Florida last Saturday, March 29, and achieved important diplomatic breakthroughs.

During the seven-hour exchange, Stubb not only established a personal friendship with President Trump but also advanced agreements for both countries to purchase icebreakers. Equally important, Stubb presented a diplomatic plan to Trump for ending the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, suggesting that Trump pressure Putin to accept the deadline for a Russia-Ukraine ceasefire.

Finland, as a new member of NATO and a staunch ally of Kyiv, shares a 1,340-kilometer border with Russia.

Earlier this month, Stubb met with Ukrainian President Zelensky, expressing his desire to become a European envoy for Ukraine and have a seat at the negotiating table. Last week, Stubb negotiated with Zelensky for two days in Helsinki. In an interview with The Guardian, Stubb proposed a plan to set April 20 as the deadline for Putin to comply with the ceasefire agreement and achieve a comprehensive ceasefire.

After spending hours with Stubb, President Trump stated that he is losing patience with Putin’s delaying tactics on the Ukraine ceasefire issue.

Stubb has become a key figure in the Ukrainian negotiation process. Like UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, he believes that engaging with Trump rather than alienating him is the best way to persuade the U.S. not to abandon Ukraine.

He explained, “The message I conveyed in my conversation with [Trump] was that we need a ceasefire, we need a deadline for the ceasefire, and then we need [Russia] to pay the price for violating the ceasefire.”

He stated, “So, first, we need a ceasefire date, preferably by Easter, for example, April 20 when President Trump has been in office for three months. If Russia does not accept the ceasefire agreement or violates it by then, there must be consequences, and those consequences should be sanctions, maximum sanctions. We keep up the pressure until the 20th, and then we’ll see what happens.”

The diplomatic relationship between the United States and Finland has also seen a new breakthrough. Trump and Stubb both expressed their anticipation to “strengthen the partnership between the two countries, including providing and developing much-needed icebreakers for the U.S., offering peace and international security for our nations and the world.”

Icebreakers are crucial for navigation in the Arctic region, and the strategic importance of the Arctic region is increasingly significant for the U.S., Russia, and China. Moscow currently has the world’s largest fleet of icebreakers, but Finland is also in a leading position in terms of design and construction.

(This article was referenced from reports by The Guardian and POLITICO.)