Helsinki says ‘no’ to hypothetical Trump-Putin summit

Finland would say no to a US-Russia peace summit in Finland should Donald Trump win November’s presidential election.

Trump claims to have a plan that would bring the Ukraine war to a rapid end but Finland’s Foreign minister, Elina Valtonen, made clear that there could be no repetition of the Cold War’s Helsinki Accords of 1975 or the Trump-Putin summit held in 2018.

Speaking to the Telegraph, Valtonen said her country fully supported Ukraine’s peace objectives and Finland would host a summit only if Russia demonstrated its willingness to negotiate in good faith. At this stage, that looked “highly doubtful”, the minister added.

“Like almost everybody else in Europe, we don’t have any political dialogue with Russia at the moment,” she said.

“We are not looking to open any dialogue either, for as long as Russia keeps invading sovereign nations in its neighbourhood.”

This was an oblique reference to Finland’s own 1,340-kilometre border with Russia, where all crossing points are currently closed.  The February 2022 Ukraine invasion also triggered neutral Finland’s decision to join Nato.

Valtonen emphasised to the Telegraph that she “completely” ruled out discussions taking place in Helsinki unless Russia showed its readiness to return to valuing and respecting international law.

Trump has repeatedly declared that he could end the Ukraine war within 24 hours without revealing how he would do so, and Valtonen stated that Finland would only back a solution based on international law and the UN charter.

“So far, I haven’t seen any proposal on a peace treat draft, other than that of President Zelensky,” she said.