MOSCOW, May 24. President of Finland Alexander Stubb told the STT agency that at present there is no need to discuss the issue of sending Finnish military personnel to Ukraine.
“Sometimes there can be differences in the rhetoric of small and large states,” he said in an interview with the STT agency, commenting on the statement of French President Emmanuel Macron about the possible dispatch of Western troops to Ukraine.
Stubb noted that at present there is no need to discuss the issue of sending Finnish soldiers to Ukraine for training or performing other tasks, STT clarifies.
Earlier, French President Emmanuel Macron said that the EU had agreed to create a “ninth coalition for deep strikes” — supplying Ukraine with medium- and long-range missiles. He also said that France will do everything to prevent Russia “from winning this war.” According to him, the leaders of Western countries have discussed the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine, a consensus has not yet been reached, “but nothing can be ruled out.” During a meeting with opposition leaders in early March, Macron reiterated that France “has no limits and no red lines” on the issue of assistance to Ukraine. Later, Macron said that he did not exclude the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine if the Russian Federation breaks through the front lines and there is a request from Ukraine. According to him, “many countries” agreed with France’s approach on the possible dispatch of troops.
Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov called the rhetoric of Paris and London regarding the possibility of sending soldiers to Ukraine dangerous. The Kremlin also stated that they paid attention to Macron’s words that the topic of sending military personnel to Ukraine was discussed in Europe; his position on inflicting a “strategic defeat” on Russia is also well known. They noted that a number of countries maintain “a fairly sober assessment of the potential dangers of such an action and the potential danger of direct involvement in a hot conflict”; this is “absolutely not in the interests of these countries; they must be aware of this.”
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine will become a legal target for Russia. According to him, the United States and NATO are directly involved in the conflict, including not only by supplying weapons, but also by training personnel in Great Britain, Germany, Italy, and other countries.