The president of Finland says Donald Trump is running out of patience with Vladimir Putin and is frustrated with him.
The Finnish leader spoke to Sky News after spending the day with the US president and playing golf with him.
Alexander Stubb said Donald Trump is “the only person who can broker a peace, a ceasefire, because he’s the only one that Putin is afraid of” – but is tiring of the Russian leader’s tactics.
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“There was a combination of impatience and a tad of frustration,” he said during their match in Florida over the weekend – and it wasn’t with his golf swing.
“We were talking a lot about the ceasefire and the frustrations he had that Russia was not committing to it.”
Mr Stubb’s comments confirm reports of a change in attitude by Mr Trump over the Russian leader.
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He has until recently seemed more than happy to give Putin the benefit of the doubt, applying enormous pressure on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy instead.
Putin’s refusal to accept a 30-day ceasefire though is changing that, according to the Finnish leader.
He said: “If there was a pendulum of trust and distrust, certainly Russian activity in the past few weeks has proven that we’re moving more towards the distrust side of things.”
Mr Stubb is urging the imposition of colossal sanctions on Russia if it does not accept the ceasefire by a deadline that he says should be set for Easter.
The US is considering sanctions on Russian oil, he said. “Oil, oil prices, serious caps on oil.”
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Republican senator Lindsey Graham, who also played golf with Mr Stubb on Saturday, is proposing what he has called “bone breaking sanctions” if it does not comply with ceasefire demands.
Sanctions failed to deter Russia from invading Ukraine in the first place or reverse its invasion since.
But Mr Stubb insists Russia’s economic pain is now reaching a critical point and sanctions could tip it over the brink.
He said: “You never underestimate the capacity of Russians to live through discomfort. I mean that’s what the Soviet Union was really about. But at the same time, there has to be a wall at some stage. And I think that wall is approaching.”
If Donald Trump is losing patience with Russia, is he prepared to do anything about it?
“I think we need a colossal amount of sanctions on 20 April if the Russians don’t abide by the ceasefire,” said Mr Stubb.
But is Donald Trump’s Finnish golfing partner confident he is going to apply that pressure?
“Fairly confident,’ he said. “More confident than hopeful.”
It may take more than that to persuade Putin there is something to really worry about.
