Russia supports any steps toward rebuilding relations with European countries, Russian leader Vladimir Putin said Friday, commenting on Tuesday’s phone call with Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.
Putin said Russia is prepared for a possible war with Europe, though it is not seeking one. He warned at the same time that if tensions escalate excessively, there will be no winners, Reuters reported.
He added that Moscow does not want a situation in the Baltic Sea similar to the one in the Strait of Hormuz, but is prepared for it and will respond to provocations, the Interfax agency reported, adding that Putin was speaking at a news conference after the Russia-Africa summit in Moscow.
The Russian leader also said that supporters of war with Russia “have not achieved their goal of a strategic defeat of Russia, and it is unlikely they will manage to do so by 2030.”
On Tuesday, the Norwegian government said the call between the leaders of Finland and Norway took place in coordination with Ukraine and was meant to convey directly to Putin their position on future negotiations aimed at ending the war. Støre and Stubb stressed that they were speaking as representatives of their own countries, not of Europe as a whole. The call followed a meeting in Oslo last week, where Stubb and Støre met with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.S. envoys. (PAP)
