President of Finland: Security guarantees require Europe's readiness to confront Russia

President of Finland Alexander Stubb believes that security guarantees for Ukraine will force allies to fight Russia if Moscow attacks Ukraine again in the future. He voiced this opinion in an interview with The Guardian.

According to him, security guarantees are a deterrent. When asked whether the guarantees mean that European countries should be prepared to engage Russia militarily in the event of new aggression, Stubb replied: "That is the essence of security guarantees by definition.".

President of Finland believes that any security guarantees are useless if not backed by real power.

"Security assurances are essentially a deterrent, and this deterrent must be convincing and strong. And it also involves strategic communication, so we are not just giving empty security guarantees, but we are giving real security guarantees, and Russia knows that," he said .

Stubb emphasized that security guarantees for Ukraine will come into force only after a peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia is concluded. But the aggressor country will not have a veto over their format.

"Russia has absolutely no say in the sovereign decisions of an independent state... Therefore, for me it is not a question of whether Russia will agree or not. Of course, it will not agree, but this is not the point," he said .

• on September 5, Zelenskyy insisted that security guarantees should be implemented now, and not after the fighting ends and a peace agreement is reached.
• On September 9, Stubb said that Finland has 10-20 opportunities to participate in security guarantees for Ukraine.