The Estonian president is currently on a state visit to Finland and told Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat on Monday that Europe should be prepared to engage with Russia once the war in Ukraine ends. His comments have been controversial in Estonia.

During a press conference on Tuesday, ERR asked both presidents about Karis's remarks about the potential restoration of dialogue with Moscow.

Stubb said the question, and communication with Russia in general, has been dealt with seriously over the past two years.

"There isn't, say, a conversation in the Coalition of the Willing or elsewhere, where we would not touch the issue of who should communicate with Russia when, where and how. Now, what we have done from a European perspective is to outsource this role to the United States. And because of the war in Iran, that conversation is now on a low burner," he told the media.

"So I would fully agree with President Karis that there will come a time when we should open up communication channels [with Russia.] The open question is when – is it before the end of the war or after the end of the war. But the more open question is who does it and on what mandate?" Stubb continued.

"My starting point is that we should do it collectively on a mandate. In other words, that no one does a solo act in Europe. We have seen a few of those and they don't usually work. And the framing of all of this, and the question that we have to ask ourselves is, where is America's relations with Russia going versus where is Europe's with Russia going," he added.

Stubb said that regardless of what happens in Russia, the country will continue to be a neighbor to Finland and Estonia.

He stressed that relations between Finland and Russia cannot return to what they were before 2008, when Russia attacked Georgia; 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea; or in 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine.

"So the relationship will be different. But there will be some kind of relationship. That's what neighbors have to do," Stubb said.

Karis reiterated that communication would take place after the war ends: "Things will not be the same as they used to be, but we do have a neighbor called Russia. If you open a map, you see that Russia remains next to us. We are not going to move away, and likely neither is Russia."

"So we must find a way to deal with our neighbor — not to negotiate, but to communicate. That is what neighbors do, even with unfortunate neighbors. There is no way out of this situation," the Estonian president said.

"All wars end at some point. Even the Hundred Years' War ended. That means we must be ready to start such communication," Karis added.

Stubb: Europe needs Ukraine more than Ukraine needs Europe

The Finnish president also said that the narrative of the war in Ukraine needs to change, because over the past four months, Ukraine has been performing much better than Russia.

He said Russia is seeing between 30,000 and 35,000 soldiers wounded or killed every month, and the ratio is around one Ukrainian soldier for every five Russian soldiers.

"On top of that, Ukraine now has the capability to launch more missiles and drones into Russia than vice versa. The pace at which Russia is advancing is actually minimal, at a cost of roughly 250 dead per square kilometer," Stubb said.

The Finnish head of state said Europe has a lot to learn from Ukraine. "Instead of us thinking that Ukraine needs Europe, perhaps we should think that we in Europe need Ukraine more. Ukraine has the largest, most efficient, and most modern military in Europe," he said.

Stubb noted that he sees no signs that Russia intends to test NATO's Article 5.

"There will always be hybrid threats; I don't deny that. But if you look at the eastern flank — from northeastern Scandinavia, Norway, Finland, the Baltic states, Poland, all the way to Ukraine—I do not believe there will be a direct test," he said.

Stubb added that Americans are telling us that Europe must take more responsibility for its own defense. "Ultimately, this comes down to burden-sharing, especially in conventional forces".

Commenting on claims that the Baltic states could be next targets of a Russian attack, Karis said this is Russia's attempt to sow anxiety.

"Narratives about who might be 'next' — Estonia, the Baltics, Finland, — come and go. This is not new. But we should remain calm, as is typical of Nordic societies," Karis said.

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