President Alexander Stubb termed easing sanctions on Russia by United States as very damaging.
Talking to a leading British newspaper The Telegraph, the President also expressed his disappointment over the US foreign policy and the war in Middle East saying that the United States has acted alone, or together with Israel, without informing allies.
Replaying to a query regarding easing US sanctions on Russia he said, “It’s very damaging.”
“It’s very damaging for Ukraine, because it basically feeds the Russian war machine. The message I’ve had from the beginning is that we need to do two things: support Ukraine as best we can, financially and militarily, and to put as much pressure on Russia as possible. And of course, sanctions are the key,” said Stubb.
He said that Trump deserves credit for sanctioning Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, last year and using American tariffs to compel India to cut its imports of Putin’s hydrocarbons.
“But now, with the rising oil price, with the lifting of the sanctions, we don’t know, so this will have a negative effect,” Stubb said.
Russian tankers laden with about 120 million barrels of oil are suddenly free to deliver their cargoes to the highest bidder after being relieved of American sanctions.
He said many will be heading to India since Trump has issued a special waiver for the world’s most populous country to resume importing Russian oil, allowing Putin to regain his second biggest customer after China.
“So this is the reality that we Europeans have to live with. So my message to my European friends and to my American friends is: don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. Salvage what you can of the trans-Atlantic partnership – like Nato, like defence – and then cordially disagree on tariffs, on climate change and on other things,” he told the newspaper.
Pointing out two perspectives of diplomacy- public and private he suggested to find out the effective and right balance.
“All I can tell you is that, from a Finnish perspective, I try to pick my battles. So my war is the war in Ukraine,” Stubb added.
He believes the war in Iran is further proof of how America’s approach towards allies has fundamentally changed.
“I think there is a difference now in American foreign policy, which we have to realise – and I say this as a pro-American and avid trans-Atlanticist. We have to deal with the world as it is, not as we would wish it to be,” he said.
He said that the difference is that in the olden days, when the US was a benign hegemon, it would consult its allies first [before intervening] in Libya, in Iraq and in Afghanistan, and it would also seek the approval of the UN Security Council.
“And, failing that, it would go with its allies. This time around, the United States has acted alone, or together with Israel, without informing allies,” said the President.
- Stubb
- US
- Russia
- Sanctions
- War
- Iran
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
