A pro-European narcissist, an energetic politician, a sled turner and a critic of Russia.
Among other things, the Russian media introduces the future president of Finland with these words by Alexander Stubb (co.)
On Monday, the president of Russia Vladimir Putin press secretary Dmitry Peskov briefly commented on Stubb’s election as President of Finland on Monday.
Peskov described Stubb’s remarks as “unfriendly in nature”, Russia’s state news agency Ria Novosti news.
– Finland is currently one of the unfriendly countries. It’s all about sanctions. The statements of the future president himself are unfriendly in nature, Peskov said.
However, the Kremlin spokesman stated that the people of Finland have chosen their president and therefore Russia can do nothing but respect the Finns’ choice.
The results of the Finnish presidential election are of interest in the neighboring country, even though the 55-year-old Stubb is quite an unknown figure to Russians.
Several Russian media, such as newspapers Izvestija and Newspaperthe financial newspaper RBK, the opposition media Meduza and the Russians news agencyt reported on the results of the Finnish presidential election on Sunday evening.
Russian Newspaper describes Stubb as a pro-European narcissist. According to the magazine, Stubb is focused on building his political career in the European Union.
The newspaper notes that Stubb has studied in the United States and speaks several European languages fluently.
– In international circles, Stubb has presented himself as an energetic and skilled politician, Gazeta writes.
The media also describe Stubb as “attention-seeking” and skilfully riding on media scandals.
In the Russian media for example, the management register commotion of 2015 was remembered.
Stubb, who was the finance minister at the time, told the plenary session of the parliament that 90 percent of the official statements regarding the ownership register would be positive. However, the reporters found out that in reality only ten percent of the authorities were positive.
According to the Russian media, Stubb is a sled turner
Already after the first round, Russian experts suggested that it would not matter from Russia’s point of view which of the candidates would win, as Finland’s anti-Russian line would tighten anyway Sauli Niinistön after the presidency.
It was emphasized in the Russian media that Finland has slowly abandoned its policy of neutrality. Russian Izvestijan according to this, among other things, Finland’s accession to the military alliance NATO is indicative of this.
In its election story, Izvestija also interviewed someone who sympathized with the Russian regime in the role of an expert Johan Bäckmann.
In an interview with the Russian media, Bäckman claimed that Finland makes its foreign and domestic policy decisions under the influence of the United States.
After the presidential election has been decided, the Russian media has focused on thinking about how exactly Stubb’s election will affect relations between Finland and Russia.
The newspaper points out that before the events of February 2022, Stubb supported the development of relations between Finland and Russia.
– Before the war, he supported the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, visa freedom for Russians and the construction of Rosatom’s nuclear power plant in Finland, the Russian media states.
In 2022, Stubb stated With a YouTube video that he had made mistakes regarding Russia during his years of government.
After the election was over, Stubb’s old social media posts related to Russia surfaced as proof that Stubb had turned his back on Russia.
In 2018, Stubb published in the then on Twitter an update that invited the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as an old friend.
– He was criticized for his loyal attitude towards Russia, but he ignored it and called the critics anti-Russian, Gazeta wrote.
According to the newspaper, Stubb radically changed his attitude towards Russia when Russia invaded Ukraine.
According to the media, during his election campaign, Stubb harshly criticized Russia and demands that Finno-Russians be denied citizenship.
Stubb’s Putin comment was raised to a high standard
Russian media also picked up on Stubb’s answer in ‘s election debate at the end of January.
In the story of the Russian newspaper Gazeta, Stubb’s answer in the A-studio to the audience’s question about whether he would answer the phone if the Russian president Vladimir Putin would call and congratulate him on his election victory.
– I wouldn’t answer. Putin should use it as some kind of propaganda. At the moment we don’t have any kind of relations with Russia, Stubb said.
The paper notes that unlike Stubb Pekka Haavisto would have answered Putin as well.
12.2. at 15:00 Added Peskov’s comments.