PM Modi, Finland President hold fruitful talks on Ukraine, global issues

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a “fruitful conversation” with Finnish President Alexander Stubb on Wednesday and discussed the situation in Ukraine.

During their discussion, both leaders exchanged perspectives on regional and global issues.

In a post on X, PM Modi wrote, “Had a fruitful conversation with President Alexander Stubb. Finland is an important partner country in the EU. We are committed to elevating our ties. Exchanged our perspectives on regional and global issues, including the situation in Ukraine.”

France 24 reported that Tubb recently attended talks of the “coalition of the willing” hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.

Stubb emphasised the need for a unified European negotiating team to coordinate efforts and a special envoy to lead these efforts.

“We (Europeans) need two things,” Stubb states. “One is a negotiating team, just like the Americans, the Ukrainians and the Russians have. And they had that in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia. And then probably eventually we need a special envoy who would be kind of in charge and coordinating everything, because right now, although we have really good leadership coming from France and the UK, there is still that question, ‘OK, who is the European envoy? Who should I call?”

According to France 24, Stubb welcomed the effort, stating that the goal is for Ukraine to retain its independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity.

On the “coalition of the willing,” Stubb said, “This is originally a Franco-British initiative, which I welcome. It’s a way to bring Britain back into Europe and get France constructively engaged with Britain again. I think our mindset is very clear. We want Ukraine to win this war. We want them to retain their independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity. The French and the Brits took the lead. And the rest of us are following and being engaged as best we can.”

Stubb then cleared up misunderstandings about the circumstances in which “coalition of the willing” troops might potentially be deployed on the ground in Ukraine.

“A lot of people are getting their terms and timing mixed up here,” he said. “So we need to look at this in two phases. The first phase is a ceasefire. The second phase is an actual peace agreement. So, for the ceasefire, you need some kind of reassurance. That means that you can help in the air, on the sea, perhaps on land. That’s the type of planning that our military staff are doing right now. And the political decisions that we take here in Paris are part of that first phase.”

“The second phase is when peace has been maintained, settled and agreed. That’s when you put in crisis management troops or peacekeeping troops on the basis of an international mandate. So these are two quite separate things. The ceasefire is still a state of war, whereas a peace agreement, that’s when peace begins,” he added.