President | Stubb: Hungary’s Orbán traveling to Moscow “inappropriate”

Republic president Alexander Stubb commented on the Hungarian Prime Minister’s trip to Moscow at his press conference on Friday.

Prime Minister of Hungary holding the European Union Presidency Viktor Orbán traveled to Moscow on Friday.

“Personally, I don’t think his actions are appropriate. This type of action in this political situation, where Ukraine really did not want Orbán to travel to Moscow, is inappropriate,” Stubb said.

“[Venäjän presidentti Vladimir] Putin will use this to his advantage, that’s without a doubt clear.”

Information session the main topics were the NATO summit to be held next week in Washington, USA and the DCA defense cooperation agreement concluded with the USA.

Parliament approved the agreement on Monday, and Stubb approved the related laws on Friday. The agreement will enter into force at the beginning of September.

Stubb stated at the press conference that the agreement is historic for Finland.

“This complements our NATO membership and defense capabilities and binds us to long-term cooperation with the United States. For example, it condenses training and training cooperation.”

As a result of the agreement, Finland will open 15 of its military areas to the United States. According to Stubb, the Americans have been “eager” for the agreement to be ratified.

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“Putin will take advantage of this, that’s for sure.” – About Stubb Orbán’s trip to Moscow

of Washington The NATO meeting will be held on 9–11 July. It is also the association’s 75th anniversary meeting.

The meeting is also Stubb’s first NATO summit as president. Finland is participating in the meeting for the second time as a NATO member.

Stubb says that the summit will discuss, among other things, Ukraine, Finland’s goals as a NATO member country and the distribution of the burden of defense spending.

Ukrainian according to Stubb, it is especially important to send a clear message to Russia.

“In the long run, Ukraine will become both an EU and NATO country. I could imagine that some kind of peace has been achieved before the actual membership,” says Stubb.

“The basic message is clear. We are building a bridge for Ukraine towards NATO.”

According to Stubb, Finland’s goals regarding NATO have already been realized. He believes that the goals will also be passed at the summit. So far, Finland is, among other things, sending 20–30 officers to NATO’s Norfolk joint operations command post in the next few years.

NATO has taken a leap forward in defense expenditure burden sharing, says Stubb. 23 countries out of 32 NATO countries have reached the goal that defense spending must be at least two percent of the gross national product.

“In Washington, it is worth celebrating that 23 countries have reached the goal. At the same time, there can be pressure to set more goals,” says Stubb.

To the meeting the foreign minister from Finland will also participate Elina Valtonen (kok) and the Minister of Defense Antti Häkkänen (cook).

It has been estimated in advance that, in addition to the issues actually on the agenda, a lot of attention will be taken up by the internal politics of the United States. Of particular interest is how the US president Joe Biden appears in connection with the summit.

Biden’s condition and possible intentions to withdraw from the presidential race have sparked widespread debate after he was judged to have failed in his first election debate against the former president Donald Trump against. In addition, the meeting will take place right before the Republican convention, where Trump is to be blessed as the party’s presidential candidate.

Stubb commented at the press conference that Biden’s policy in NATO, for example, has been welcome.

“The president of Finland gets along with the president who is elected.”