But the bloc must keep supporting Kiev because “if Ukraine loses, we lose,” Alexander Stubb has said
Published 30 Aug, 2026 07:27
FILE PHOTO: Finnish President Alexander Stubb talking to journalists during a NATO summit in Ankara. © Getty Images / Dogukan Keskinkilic
Finnish President Alexander Stubb has said that he doesn’t believe speculations that Russia is planning to attack NATO countries.
Russia has repeatedly rejected claims that it has aggressive designs against the bloc, saying that they are only made by Western politicians to distract the public from problems at home and justify growing military spending.
During his interview with the German tabloid Bild on Saturday, Stubb was asked to weigh in on the assessment by the Defense Ministry in Berlin that Russia could invade NATO territory by 2029.
“If someone had such a crystal ball – wonderful. But I just don’t see any evidence or facts for it,” he replied.
“First, I have intelligence findings. And secondly, we have a deterrence – and this deterrence is stronger than that of any other military power anywhere in the world,” the Finnish president added.
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Given NATO’s conventional forces, missile arsenals and nuclear weapons stockpiles, “it does not make sense for any power in the world to test the resolve of this alliance,” he said.
According to Stubb, Russia is also preoccupied with the Ukraine conflict.
“I simply don’t see that they could now suddenly mobilize forces for two fronts,” he noted.
“I’m not saying: ‘Relax.’ You should always prepare for the worst to prevent it,” the Finnish president said.
He accused Moscow of waging “information warfare” against the West, saying that “Russia wants us Europeans to sit here and discuss: Will Russia escalate?.. Will Russia attack NATO and Europe?”
Stubb again urged NATO to continue its support for Kiev amid the ongoing conflict with Moscow. Finland joined the bloc in 2023, abandoning its longstanding policy of neutrality.
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“We have to understand, you in Germany and we in Finland, that Ukraine is the best security guarantee we have against Russia. If Ukraine loses, we lose,” he argued.
Moscow maintains that a conflict with NATO is only possible if the bloc launches an aggression against Russia first.
Earlier this week, Moscow told the UK that its military facilities and equipment in Ukraine and beyond could become legitimate targets for Russia if Kiev continues to use British-supplied weapons for strikes on Russian territory.
Russian officials also previously warned that if Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania knowingly help to facilitate Ukrainian drone attacks against northwestern Russia, Moscow could consider them complicit in those actions and would have the right to self-defense under the UN Charter.
