"Only understands strength"

Finnish Foreign Minister: “I trust Putin with everything”

Russian President Vladimir Putin cannot be appeased with diplomacy.

(Bild: APA/AFP/POOL/Maxim SHIPENKOV)

Finland's Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen has expressed her extreme concern about current developments - Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin should not be underestimated.

"I believe Putin is capable of anything," she told the Funke media group newspapers (Sunday edition). Europe must invest more in its defense and deterrence, she demanded. In future, it will need even more than NATO's two percent target. "We must finally grow up," warned Valtonen. "Putin is a dictator who only understands strength."

France and Germany are the main target of hybrid Russian warfare, the Foreign Minister continued. Above all, the disinformation of the people "is aimed at weakening support for Ukraine", emphasized the politician from the conservative National Rally Party. Ukraine, however, needs the greatest possible support.

Arms deliveries are essential
She did not want to comment on Germany's decision not to supply Ukraine with extensive weapons for attacks in Russia, Valtonen said, but added: "Under international law, you can also attack military targets outside your own country's borders - in other words, on the side of the aggressor."

No one wants peace more than Ukraine, she continued. "But if you think that you can end the war by no longer supplying Ukraine with weapons, then I can only say: this will not lead to the end of the war, it will lead to the end of Ukraine."