Finnish Leader Warns Russia: ‘You Don’t Play With President Trump’

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President Alexander Stubb of Finland, who has become an interlocutor in peace talks, says in an interview he doesn’t want Ukraine to suffer the same fate his country once endured.

President Alexander Stubb of Finland has inserted himself in the Ukraine peace process in what he calls “a humble way,” regularly speaking with President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and also talking to President Trump.Credit…Saara Mansikkamaki for The New York Times

Finnish Leader Warns the Kremlin: ‘You Don’t Play With President Trump’

President Alexander Stubb of Finland, who has become an interlocutor in peace talks, says in an interview he doesn’t want Ukraine to suffer the same fate his country once endured.

A day after they golfed together in Florida, President Trump said he was “pissed off” at the Kremlin and threatened to impose sanctions on Russia’s oil customers.

Hours after they sat next to each other at Pope Francis’ funeral in Vatican City, Mr. Trump lit into Moscow for shooting missiles at civilian areas in Ukraine. “Too many people are dying!!!” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social on Saturday, again threatening Russia with sanctions if the Kremlin strung him along.

It could be a coincidence. Or Mr. Trump could be listening to Finland’s president, Alexander Stubb, who has emerged as a prominent voice of Europe’s smaller nations on Russia’s war against Ukraine.

In an interview with The New York Times on Sunday, Mr. Stubb downplayed his effect on Mr. Trump. He noted that President Emmanuel Macron of France and Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain were leading European efforts, with his role being merely to “nudge things in the right direction” and “try to connect the dots.”

But Mr. Stubb’s country understands the peril of peace negotiations for Ukraine perhaps better than any other. After wars with the Soviet Union in the 1940s, Finland lost pieces of its land, its freedom to choose alliances and its power to develop its military, remaining under the Kremlin’s thumb to some degree for decades.

Mr. Stubb doesn’t want Ukraine to suffer the same fate.

President Trump and President Alexander Stubb of Finland sit a few feet apart, leaning toward each other to converse, with Mr. Stubb shielding his mouth with one hand. — Mr. Stubb and President Trump during the Pope Francis’ funeral on Saturday.Credit…Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

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