Kremlin rebukes Finland's Stubb over his support for long-range Ukrainian strikes on Russia
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Finland's President Alexander Stubb speaks during a press conference following a meeting of the so-called Coalition of the Willing group, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine August 24, 2026. REUTERS/Valentyn Ogirenko
MOSCOW, Aug 25 (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Tuesday that remarks by Finnish President Alexander Stubb approving of Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory, including on e-commerce warehouses, confirmed that he belonged to the "party of war."
Stubb told a news conference in Kyiv on Monday that Ukraine's partners must help it expand its ability to strike deeply inside Russia, arguing that what he called a "sensible military strategy" increased the cost of the war for Moscow and helped persuade ordinary Russians it was time to end the conflict.
Asked about Stubb's comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said they had come as a surprise for Moscow and accused the Finnish leader, along with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, of wanting the war in Ukraine to continue.
"This evokes no other reaction apart from surprise given that just a few weeks earlier the Finnish President had spoken of the need to normalise relations with Russia sooner or later. But now we see that escalatory rhetoric has prevailed after all," Peskov told reporters on a conference call.
"Mr Stubb is also a prominent representative of the ‘party of war’ alongside the British prime minister. They are deceiving their voters by claiming that it is possible to defeat Russia - it's a huge deception - and they appear to be refusing to heed the realities on the ground," said Peskov.
Finland, a staunch ally of Kyiv, joined the NATO military alliance in 2023 a year after Moscow sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine. The move ended seven decades of military non-alignment and roughly doubled the length of the border that NATO shares with Russia.
(Reporting by Dmitry AntonovWriting by Maxim RodionovEditing by Andrew Osborn)
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