Last month, Poland and the three Baltic countries announced they would leave the international convention as well. Finland shares a 1,340-kilometer border with Russia.
Stubb also said Helsinki would spend 3 percent of GDP on defense by 2029, compared with 2.4 percent in 2024. That’s more than NATO’s current 2 percent target, which is widely expected to be raised during a June summit in The Hague.
“This is a part of Finland’s contribution to Europe taking greater responsibility for our own defence,” the Finnish president said.
Over the weekend, Stubb made a surprise, unofficial trip to Florida and talked with U.S. President Donald Trump about the war in Ukraine. Finland’s leader — who pitched himself to become Europe’s envoy for Ukraine and have a seat at the negotiating table between Russia and the U.S. — reportedly said after his visit that Europeans are starting to think about when and how to engage with Russian President Vladimir Putin.