Finnish President Alexander Stubb’s May 11 interview with Italy’s Corriere della Sera caught the attention of multiple news outlets for his statement that he believes that European governments must directly engage with Moscow, albeit with the caveats that this will not happen soon and that it be carried out as a bloc with no deviations.
Said Stubb: “It’s time to start talking to Russia. When this will happen, I don’t know…. I believe that peace isn’t on the table, at least for this year.” He said Europeans have discussed who will establish contact with Russia, but “we don’t know yet,” and he added that “the most important thing is that everything must be coordinated between us, especially between the E5 (Germany, France, Italy, the U.K., and Poland) and the Nordic and Baltic countries, who are on the border. Whether it will be a special envoy or a group of leaders, we’ll see.”
