Stubb: G20 summit to be a possible venue for Zelenskyy and Putin meeting

President of Finland Alexander Stubb said that a possible meeting place for his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the dictator of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin may be the G20 summit in South Africa. The words of a politician reports Finnish media outlet MTV Uutiset.

Stubb said that Helsinki's approach to Russia's war against Ukraine remains unchanged: it is necessary to increase military and economic pressure on Moscow to force Putin to the negotiating table. The head of state believes that a possible opportunity for this may appear at the end of this month in South Africa.

"If the situation develops as expected over the next two to three weeks, the G20 summit in Johannesburg may be the place where presidents Putin and Zelenskyy meet," the politician said.

The G20 meeting is scheduled for November 21-22.

At the same time, Stubb sees no possibility that the American president Donald Trump and the Russian dictator met before the G20 summit, as they canceled their meeting in Budapest. Earlier, the US president said he had no intention of going to the event, and that the US should be represented by vice president J.D. Vance (read more here).

The Finnish politician also noted that the work behind the scenes will continue, even though there are no signs of an imminent ceasefire or truce.

He added that he had discussed the situation in Ukraine with the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kasym-Jomart Tokayev and Uzbekistan's Shavkat Mirziyoyev. They are scheduled to meet with Trump on November 6, after which Tokayev will speak with Putin in Moscow the following week.

"Central Asian countries could potentially act as intermediaries between the White House and the Kremlin," Stubb said.

• In September, the president of Kazakhstan said that his country does not see itself as a mediator in the settlement of the Russian-Ukrainian war, but if necessary is ready to ensure that negotiations are conducted.