news meets Stubb in the temporary residence Torppa, idyllically situated almost on the waterfront in Helsinki. The president stepped in his children’s shoes in the area. Now he has moved in here while the actual residence, Talludden, is undergoing restoration. At 9:00 a.m., the president enters the representative room in a navy blue suit. He smiles. Alexander Stubb is said to have toned down his jovial style during the presidential election campaign. Perhaps it was not entirely appropriate to be a smiling and laughing president in serious times. – It is just over half a year since you became president here in Finland. Has it met expectations? – Yes, in many ways. World politics is pretty turbulent right now. We see the entire world order changing. We have war in Ukraine, in Palestine, in Lebanon and in Sudan. In that sense, the situation is quite difficult. But at the same time, because I have been foreign minister and worked closely with foreign policy for many years, it has been about as expected. – We have had a lot of attention on NATO, of course, because we are a fairly new NATO member. But I am very happy with the first 6-7 months. Incoming presidential couple (Alexander and Suzanne Innes-Stubb) and outgoing presidential couple Sauli Niinistö and Jenni Haukio wave from the balcony of the presidential palace during the inauguration on March 1, 2024. Photo: AP Don’t think Finns buy Russian propaganda In 1994, Finland became an official partner in NATO, and has participated in several military exercises since the end of the Cold War. But on 4 April last year, the country became a full member of Nato, and with it became the defense alliance’s 31st member state. Stubb believes it is easy to agree on security policy in Finland now. – For us, security policy is an existential question. We have a 1,340 kilometer border with Russia, which is actually twice as long as the border between Norway and Finland. So we must have a vision together about our NATO membership. We must stand together on how we support Ukraine and how we manage our relations with the EU and the US. So now it is important that we completely agree. Finnish President Alexander Stubb talks about threat from hybrid war – What type of threat are we talking about from Russia now? – Right now it has a lot to do with hybrid threats. Disinformation, it can be sabotage, it can be cyber attacks in various ways. That is why we have always had a very strong defence. We still have compulsory military service. We have Europe’s largest artillery together with Poland. We have 62 F-18 fighters, we just bought 64 F-35s. But right now it is the hybrid threats that are the biggest. But he doesn’t think people in Finland are so easily fooled by the false information that might come from the big neighbor to the east. – No, the fins are quite “cool”. We understand what propaganda is. You see it a lot in the public debate. We know that we have a good defense and good discussions around integrity and security. So we take such propaganda from Russia with a grain of salt. Finnish President Alexander Stubb talks about Russian propaganda in Finland. Important to keep calm The line between war and peace has become difficult to see, says Stubbs. On the one hand, we have the traditional, military war, as in Ukraine, while on the other hand, we have the hybrid war, which takes the form of various types of attacks. – We just have to be prepared for sabotage attacks from Russia around Europe. When this happens, it is important that we first find out what has happened and who may be behind it. When we have that, we must have the same statement and message from all allied countries. Russia is looking for chaos and therefore it is extra important to react in a sane way. Finnish Leopard 2 tank in action during the NATO exercise Nordic Response 24. Photo: AFP – A little Finnish “lugn och ro” might not be so stupid? – Yes… One should not get too overheated in these situations. – But still, the situation is more dramatic. Has the war in Ukraine and the uncertainty in Europe changed Finnish security thinking? – On the one hand, nothing has changed. And on the other side, everything has changed. We have always had a strong military defense, so we have always been prepared. But now we are no longer alone. We are part of an alliance, where our closest allies are Norway, Sweden and the USA. The nuclear dilemma And just days after he was installed as president, Stubb went to Norway and Alta to visit the military exercise Nordic Response 24. Here, 20,000 soldiers from thirteen allied countries met. Alexander Stubb’s first visit abroad was to the NATO exercise Nordic Response in March this year. Photo: NTB – Since then, I have had many meetings with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson. It feels very good that we have each other in the Nordic cooperation. The fact that we speak the same language also makes it quite easy. Although many Finnish presidents have learned to master Scandinavian, Alexander Stubb is of Finnish-Swedish descent and is therefore what is often called bilingual in Finland, i.e. someone who speaks both Finnish and Swedish fluently . news met Alexander Stubb in Helsinki ahead of the state visit to Norway. Photo: Mari-Kaisa Brander / Office of the Finnish President – But one place where you may not quite speak the same language is on the issue of nuclear weapons. In the election campaign, you suggested that Finland might have to allow the transport and storage of nuclear weapons on Finnish soil in the future. Why did you do that? – If you look at what has been said politically, nuclear weapons are also part of our defence. We do not need nuclear weapons on our territory, I completely agree with that. No country has proposed that nuclear weapons should be placed either in Finland or in Norway. But the fact that NATO countries have nuclear weapons is part of NATO’s three defense pillars. Proximity to Norway Finland’s president hopes that in the long term it will be possible to normalize relations with Russia. But as the situation is now, it is difficult. He believes that a divided Europe has been given a new iron curtain, with Russia and Belarus on one side and over 40 European countries on the other. Finland’s President Alexander Stubb believes it may be difficult to ever get a normal relationship with Russia again. – As long as Russia acts as aggressively and imperialistically as they have done. As long as they violate international law and territorial integrity and sovereignty, as we have seen in Ukraine and earlier in Georgia, so it is difficult to have a normal relationship with Russia. We have no political contact with Russia right now. There is some diplomatic contact. But in the long run, of course, the hope is a peace solution, which in turn will mean that we can begin to normalize relations. But the time for that is not right now. – And now you are ready for your first state visit to Norway? Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb came to dinner at the castle with then Minister for Innovation and Administration Rigmor Aasrud during the state visit in 2012. Photo: NTB – Yes, I’m looking forward to it. I have participated in state visits to Norway in the past, as foreign minister in 2012 together with the then president Sauli Niinistö. So now it will be nice to meet the king and crown prince again. We have always had close contact with Norway. Regardless of which political wing we belong to. And Norway has also played a certain role in Stubb’s political choice. – Yes, my wife and I were on our 25th honeymoon to Lofoten. There we made the final decision to return to politics after being away for 6-7 years. And a week later I announced that I was running for president. So in that way, Norway is also an important place for me. And us. Jonas Gahr Støre and Alexander Stubb on a ski trip in Nordmarka. When they were both foreign ministers and the former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari received the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo in 2008. Photo: NTB Published 15/10/2024, at 21.57
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The border between war and peace has become unclear – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
