MOSCOW, January 28 Victory in the presidential elections in Finland may won by the former prime minister of the country, a supporter of rapprochement and active work with NATO Alexander Stubb, a softening of Helsinki’s position towards Moscow should not be expected, said Roman Plyusnin, a researcher at the Nordic Center of the Institute of Europe of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The first round of the Finnish presidential election will take place on Sunday with the participation of nine candidates, the main fight is between Stubb and former Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto. If none of the candidates receives more than 50% of the votes in the first round, then the second round will take place on February 11.
“On Sunday we won’t know who will win, because there will be a second round. Most likely, Alexander Stubb and Pekka Haavisto will go to the second round. Stubb is in the lead by a small margin, most likely he will win in the end,” said Plyusnin.
«He is a candidate from the same party as the current president, he has always been a supporter of rapprochement and active work with NATO, which is now relevant for Finland. He is a moderately conservative candidate, at least compared to most of the others «, Plyusnin clarified.
As the agency’s interlocutor noted, one should not hope that as president Stubb will take a softer position towards Russia. “He can be called a NATO creature, he is a “pro-Atlantic candidate”. Even before joining NATO became “mainstream”, he was in favor of joining NATO. Accordingly, for NATO he is now the most convenient candidate,” the researcher concluded.
On Friday, the Russian Foreign Ministry noted that the entire complex of relations between Russia and Finland was completely destroyed due to the fault of Helsinki. Finland is pursuing an aggressive and confrontational anti-Russian policy, including active support for Ukraine, including through the supply of weapons and military equipment, and consistently advocates strengthening sanctions pressure on Russia. As the Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicated, “in April 2023, Finland officially joined the NATO military bloc, which is openly hostile towards Russia, abandoning the long-standing policy of military non-alignment, which was an effective basis for ensuring national security.”