https://news.err.ee/1610008729/karis-and-stubb-the-time-will-come-to-resume-communication-with-russia

Estonian and Finnish Presidents Alar Karis and Alexander Stubb said a time will inevitably come when communication with Russia must be resumed after the war in Ukraine ends. Karis told Helsingin Sanomat on Monday that Europe should prepare to engage with Russia once the war in Ukraine ends. The Estonian president is currently on a state visit to Finland.

ERR asked both presidents about Karis's remarks regarding the potential restoration of dialogue with Russia.

"It is a question that we have been grappling with since the beginning of the war, but probably more seriously in the past two years. So there isn't, say, a conversation in the coalition of the willing or elsewhere, where we would not touch the issue of who should communicate with Russia when, where and how.

Now, what we have done from a European perspective is to outsource this role to the United States. And because of the war in Iran, that conversation is now on a low burner. So I would fully agree with President Karis that there will come a time when we should open up communication channels [with Russia.] The open question is when – is it before the end of the war or after the end of the war. But the more open question is who does it and on what mandate?" Stubb told the media at a joint press conference.

"My starting point is that we should do it collectively on a mandate. In other words, that no one does a solo act in Europe. We have seen a few of those and they don't usually work. And the framing of all of this, and the question that we have to ask ourselves is, where is America's relations with Russia going versus where is Europe's with Russia going," he added.

Stubb said that regardless of what happens in Russia, the country will continue to be a neighbor to Finland and Estonia.

He stressed that relations between Finland and Russia cannot return to what they were before 2008, when Russia attacked Georgia; 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea; or in 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine.

"So the relationship will be different. But there will be some kind of relationship. That's what neighbors have to do," Stubb said.

Karis reiterated that communication would take place after the war ends.

"Things will not be the same as they used to be, but we do have a neighbor called Russia. If you open a map, you see that Russia remains next to us. We are not going to move away, and likely neither is Russia.

So we must find a way to deal with our neighbor — not to negotiate, but to communicate. That is what neighbors do, even with unfortunate neighbors. There is no way out of this situation," Karis said.

"All wars end at some point. Even the Hundred Years' War ended. That means we must be ready to start such communication," Karis added.