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Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
❗️President of Finland Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Støre held a phone call with Putin
The conversation was a continuation of talks in Oslo 20 October. The initiators were Stubb and Støre, and they prepared it in consultation with Ukraine.
The goal was to convey to Putin directly Ukraine’s position regarding the upcoming peace talks in Abu Dhabi. This was reported by the Office of the President of Finland.
And an important detail: Stubb and Støre spoke as leaders of their countries, not on behalf of all of Europe.
To understand why this matters, you need to remember two things.
First — Europe is seeking direct contact with Putin. Just a week ago the Financial Times wrote that a consensus is forming in European capitals: Putin should not be spoken to only by Americans. Channels with the Russians are already open. And now they have started working.
Second — Putin is raising the stakes. According to The Telegraph, at the talks in Abu Dhabi Russia will demand reducing NATO’s presence in Europe to the level of 1997 year. That is, withdrawing troops from Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and FINLAND. And Putin’s aide Ushakov says that talking only with Kyiv is “not enough,” one must talk with all of Europe.
One can say with confidence that Europe will NEVER agree to the demand to withdraw troops from Poland and the Baltics. And if Putin succeeds in tying peace in Ukraine to this, our peace will become a hostage to a major bargaining chip between Russia and the West.
Therefore our position must be clear: separate the tracks.
▪️ NATO troops in Europe — that is a conversation between Russia and Europeans. Let them talk.
▪️ Everything that concerns Ukraine — only together with Ukraine.
And small agreements that are already working must not be made hostages to a big bargaining chip.
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