Instead of freezing conflict, West should set limits for Putin, Finland's foreign minister says

Instead of calling for a freeze on the conflict in Ukraine, Western leaders should set limits on Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and stop him, said the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Finland, Elina Valtonen, Bayerischer Rundfunk reports.

"If we in the West try to freeze the war or hold back and hope that this will cause it to end, then we are simply wrong. You just have to put limits on leaders like Putin. You have to stop them, because otherwise they will not stop," she said.

According to Valtonen, the West continues to underestimate Putin and "his power". The head of Finnish diplomacy noted that "the situation could become much worse", referring to the threat to NATO countries coming from Russia.

Earlier, Defense Minister Antti Häkkänen said that in December 2023, his ministry allocated about 24 million euros to increase the domestic production of ammunition. The stimulus was the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

As of February 2024, the total cost of aid provided by Finland to Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation is 1.8 billion euros.

On February 29, Finland stated that it has not imposed any restrictions on its military aid and Ukraine can use the weapons provided by Finland also on the territory of Russia.