Finnish President Alexander Stubb, together with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, has rejected accusations that their phone call to Russian President Vladimir Putin caused a split in Europe.
Globalinfo.az reports that he said this in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.
According to him, on the contrary, it was the first case in which Europe was able to act as a mediator.
Stubb said Western allies had been informed about the call beforehand, and that it was followed by numerous positive reactions and only one negative one.
“But we understood that we were being criticised for this call, because it meant a change in European policy,” the Finnish president said.
The politician stressed that he hoped other European leaders would also show initiative.
According to his expectations, Germany, France and Italy will now take on the initiative of drawing Europe into negotiations on Ukraine.
Note that on October 27, Støre and Stubb called Vladimir Putin by phone. The conversation took place ahead of the resumption of talks on Ukraine in the Moscow–Washington–Kyiv format. The parties discussed prospects for a peaceful settlement of the conflict.
Aliyar Khalil
Globalinfo.az
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