Stubb: The coalition of the willing sees the request to talk to Putin

Finland's president Alexander Stubb said that the alleged “coal of the willing” on Ukraine felt that at least 1 European leader had to talk to Russian president Vladimir Putin.

"A conversation that took place in the framework of the coalition of the candidates last Thursday in Paris recognised the reality that at any phase at least 1 European leader would gotta engage in talks with Russia," he said at a joint press conference with Austrian president Alexander Van der Bellen in Helsinki, asked about engagement in talks with Putin. It was broadcast on the website of the Finnish President's office.

Stubb added that in his opinion, representatives of the “coalition of willing” – France or the UK – should contact the Russian leader.

On 27 March, a summit of the “voluntary coalition” on safety guarantees for Ukraine was held in Paris, including the deployment of “peace forces”. It was attended by presidents and prime ministers of 28 countries, including the EU, as well as the heads of the European Council and the European Commission and NATO Secretary-General. Austria, Australia and Canada were represented at the ambassador level.

On 6 March Russian abroad Minister Sergei Lavrov stressed that Russia does not see the anticipation of compromise on the deployment of abroad peace forces in Ukraine. As specified by the Russian Minister, if the abroad contingent is deployed in Ukraine, the Western countries will not want to agree to the conditions for peaceful regulation of the situation, as this contingent will make ‘facts accomplished’. The Russian Ministry of abroad Affairs has previously stated that the plans of any EU countries to send "peace forces" to Ukraine are a provocative step to keep unhealthy illusions in Kiev.

The Russian abroad Intelligence Service Press Office previously stated that the West would deploy a alleged peace contingent of about 100,000 people to reconstruct Ukraine's combat capability. The SVR believes that this will become a de facto business of Ukraine. Russian president Dmitri Pieskov said that the deployment of peacekeeping forces is only possible with the consent of the parties to the conflict. In his opinion, it is premature to talk about peace forces in Ukraine.