Finland president describes mood during White House meeting with Zelensky

And now the president of Finland, Alexander Stubbe, as I promised, is with me because he was inside that meeting with Trump and Zelensky today, sitting next to Zelensky, across from Trump. Finland, a crucial country for NATO and Europe, sharing an 830-mile border with Russia. In fact, it is the longest European border with Russia, and Finland is part of NATO. So as we've made the point before, it's not about NATO, even though Putin may say sometimes that it is. President Stube, I appreciate your time.

I'm so glad to talk to you again. I know it has been a long day, and you had to be flexible and go with the flow. Some things happened, unexpected timing, and, you know, which speaks to the moment that we're in, the uncertainty. So at one point in this meeting, you're in the room across from Trump. You're sitting next to President Zelensky,

and Trump at one point calls Putin in a call that Russia now says was 40 minutes long. I'm so curious, Mr. President, was there any conversation in the room about that call? Did Trump talk to you beforehand about it or after he got off the phone with Putin?

Oh, yeah, definitely. I mean, this was very much a day of Team Europe and Team U.S. together supporting Ukraine. So first us Europeans, we had a pre-meeting, and then after that, Zelensky had a bilateral meeting with President Trump. And then we spent the better part of four hours together with President Trump sussing out what we can do next.

And one of the plans was for President Trump to tell President Putin basically what we had decided in the meeting. So yes, it was very coordinated and very constructive.

So you're saying that that call, when the meeting sort of got paused, it sounds like what you're saying is because of the conversation that you're having in the room, that you all sort of said, okay, he said, all right, well, I don't wanna put words in his mouth, but I'm gonna go call him now. You guys were all in agreement with it.

This is sort of how it sort of organically played out.

Yeah, definitely. I mean, so basically there were three outcomes of today. The first one was a good conversation on security guarantees, in other words, security guarantees by Europe and coordinated with the United States for Ukraine. And we start that work on concrete things immediately. The second one was a suggestion of a bilateral meeting between Zelensky and Putin and that was

what President Trump was testing with President Putin and President Putin had agreed to do that meeting. And then the third step is after the bilateral meeting, if everything goes well, which is of course always a big if when you're dealing with Putin, there will be a trilateral meeting. So I think this was

one of these meetings where we kind of took You know three steps forward rather than any backwards. Do you know what Putin what Trump? I'm sorry said to Putin on the phone I mean, what were the specifics that that he put out there?

Well, I mean President Trump then after the call We agreed to meet in the Oval Office and we had a very thorough briefing by him of the conversation, but obviously, you know, in diplomacy, what happens in the Oval Office stays in the Oval Office when the media is not in there.

Well, that isn't always true, but I appreciate that you are taking the high road and doing the right thing. I don't mean to laugh about it, But in this context, you're talking about he gets on the phone with Putin, then you all go into the Oval Office. There was a moment where I believe

Trump was talking to your colleague, Keir Starmer, and he said something that was caught on a hot mic. He was talking about Putin. Let me play it for you, Mr. President. I think he wants to make a deal with Putin. You understand that? As crazy as it sounds. So, you have told, I know in the past, Mr. President, Trump that no one can trust Putin, right? You have the longest land border in Europe with Russia, and you have a lot of troops

that are on that border, as you've told me, and that's because of Russia, right, to state the obvious. What is your response when Trump says something, even at this point, that he believes that Putin will make a deal for him, because of him?

Well, I mean, I've been involved in peace mediation before, and I think that President Trump is genuinely trying to bring this war to an end. And we're all working in that direction. But of course, you know, we are dealing with President Putin and we do have to understand that his basic strategic aims have not changed. And they are threefold. He wants to see Russia as a superpower. He wants to split the West and he wants to deny the sovereignty of Ukraine. So that's the reality that we're

dealing with. The reality is also that we have a minimum of a thousand people dead or wounded every day. So we're trying to do our best through diplomatic means to find a solution to this conflict to Russia's war of aggression.

And when you talk about Russia's war of aggression in the history of what Putin wants. It's personal to you and not just because you happen to be the president of Finland, you've got the largest land border all those things that I keep repeating, I mean it's personal to your father, your grandfather were both born in

cities that Finland was forced to cede to the then Soviet Union cities that are part of Russia now. So I mean do you have any doubts about his ambitions when it comes to expanding Russian territory.

Well, I mean I we've seen that in both Georgia and in Ukraine. But you know, I keep on stressing the basics of it. So statehood is based on independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. And after World War II, which for us was the Winter War and the War of Continuation, Finland retained independence, unlike, for instance, our Baltic friends, unfortunately. But we lost sovereignty to decide and we lost territory. But the difference there is

that at that time Finland was alone, but now Ukraine is not alone and that's why I think it's so important that all of us, both Team Europe and Team US, keep on working for the independence, for the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Ukraine. And to be honest, I think if we work on the security guarantees, that will guarantee sovereignty and it will strengthen territorial integrity as well.

President Stubbe, I appreciate your time and thank you so much. I'm glad to speak with you again, sir. President Stubbe, I appreciate your time and thank you so much. I'm glad to speak with you again, sir.

Thank you.