Finnish President Alexander Stubb said this week that he sees no factual basis for fears that Russia could soon attack Finland or other European countries, striking a far calmer tone than Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has warned that Moscow’s war could spread beyond Ukraine’s borders.
Speaking to Fox News Digital on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York, Stubb also credited President Donald Trump with intensifying the push for a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine.
“I think we’re certainly in a better place than we were before President Trump started,” Stubb said. “He’s doubled down in the past year and a half to try to find a solution for peace with negotiators such as Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and many others.”
Stubb said he and Norway’s prime minister have been working largely “in the back office,” passing information among Ukraine, the United States and European governments. “I think he’s really working hard and hopefully we’ll get a solution,” he said of Trump’s efforts.
Zelenskyy’s Warning
The comments came during a diplomatic week in New York dominated by the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. Trump and Zelenskyy met during the U.N. General Assembly as Washington pressed to revive negotiations with Moscow, and Zelenskyy thanked Trump for sending envoys to Kyiv after talks in Moscow.
Asked by Fox News Digital whether Russia could attack another European country, Zelenskyy said the risk was significant. “That’s why the risk of offensive by drones, missiles or land operation is very high against other countries who are bordering Russia or Belarus,” he said.
Zelenskyy argued that Russian President Vladimir Putin, unable to achieve his goals in Ukraine, could try to destabilize other parts of Europe to pressure Western governments into scaling back support for Kyiv, pointing to drone incursions and disruptions already affecting several countries. Asked what Europe should do, he said: “Respond. Always respond. It’s not about the war. If you don’t respond, Russians, they will go further.”
Stubb: “We Are Calm Because We Are Prepared”
Stubb, whose country shares the longest border of any NATO member with Russia, offered a different assessment. “As commander-in-chief in Finland, I sit on all the relevant information and I just don’t see a factual basis for it,” he said of the idea that Finland itself could be attacked.
That doesn’t mean Russia has stopped targeting Europe, he said, distinguishing between the “kinetic” war in Ukraine and a broader “hybrid” campaign involving cyberattacks, sabotage and damage to undersea cables in the Baltic Sea. “We have to see this as a campaign,” Stubb said. “Russia tries to intimidate Europe, scare us and get into our heads.”
His response, he said, is distinctly Finnish: “cool, calm and collected, take a sauna and a nice bath and deal with it.”
Stubb said Finland, with a population of 5.6 million, can afford that composure because it has spent decades preparing for a potential threat from Russia. “We are calm because we are prepared,” he said, citing mandatory military service, a large reserve force, artillery, long-range strike capability and an extensive civilian shelter network. The Finnish Defence Forces put the country’s wartime military strength at 280,000 personnel, with additional reservists available.
“We have obligatory military service. I did mine, my son did his. We have women who do it voluntarily. We have over 60 F-18s. We just bought 64 F-35s, the two first of which arrived. We have long-range missiles, air, land and sea. We have the capability to mobilize 280,000 troops within days in a conflictual situation. On top of that, we have land mines. And we have the biggest artillery in Europe together with Poland… On top of that, we have civilian shelters for over 4.4 million people out of 5.6.”
Finland is acquiring 64 F-35A fighter jets to replace its F/A-18 Hornet fleet, and the first two aircraft arrived at the Lapland Air Wing in Rovaniemi on Sept. 18, according to the Finnish Defence Forces.
“We don’t have them because we’re worried about Sweden,” Stubb joked. “We have them because we see a security threat coming from Russia.”
He said that preparedness, combined with NATO membership, makes a direct Russian attack unlikely. Finland joined NATO as its 31st member on April 4, 2023, ending decades of military non-alignment after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. “We feel that we’re very prepared, and that gives us a strong enough … deterrent that we don’t believe that Russia is going to test a country like Finland,” Stubb said. “And of course the icing on the cake is that we are now security providers in the Alliance NATO.”
Broader Diplomatic Push
In his Sept. 22 address to the U.N. General Assembly, Stubb called the “Coalition of the Willing” backing Ukraine “particularly close to my heart” and said it was working toward a “just and lasting peace in Ukraine in accordance with the U.N. Charter.” During the same week, he urged SpaceX owner Elon Musk to extend Starlink coverage so Ukrainian forces could use the satellite network in areas containing Russian ballistic missile launchers, including inside Russia, arguing it could help Ukraine target launchers firing on its cities.
Stubb also weighed in on Iran, agreeing with Trump’s call at the U.N. for countries to prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. “I agree, Iran should not obtain nuclear weapons,” he said, adding that Iran should not use proxies or be able to produce missiles.
He argued the conflicts involving Russia and Iran are increasingly linked, alleging Moscow has provided intelligence to Tehran that Iran used against U.S. military bases in the Gulf, while Iranian weapons have been supplied to Russia for use against Ukraine. “We’re going in this merry-go-round where every bit of the conflict is linked to another,” Stubb said. “The sooner we can end both, the better.”
Pointing to conflicts from Ukraine and Iran to Gaza, Yemen and Sudan, Stubb said the world’s diplomatic system is being tested by a growing number of simultaneous crises. “It’s not a zero-sum game,” he said. “We have to deal with a multiplicity of conflicts right now, unfortunately.” For Trump, he added, that means “working around the clock.”
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