Foreign Minister Stubb: Window of opportunity in Russian policy
On Wednesday evening, 4 March, Foreign Minister Alexander Stubb participated in a transatlantic dinner in Brussels, where he gave an introduction to foreign ministers of EU and NATO member states on the situation in Russia. According to Stubb, Russia is undergoing a complex transition, and a window of opportunity has opened up for improving the relations between the West and Russia.
Stubb had also a private discussion with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who largely agreed with Stubb’s situation analysis of Russia.
Sparkle of hope in foreign policy
Foreign Minister Stubb estimated that the economic crisis that has hit Russia even harder than the Western countries, the interior political movement in Russia, and the “sparkle of hope of a political change” have created a new kind of situation.
“The West’s Russian policy agenda could be expanded, breaking the old mould,” Stubb stated in his press conference in Finland’s Permanent Representation to the European Union late Wednesday evening. “The agenda could be expanded in the direction of economy, the environment and climate, and Russia needs to become a member of WTO,” Stubb said, listing the new perspectives opening up. It is largely due to the changed administration in the United States that has opened up the window of opportunity.
The United States thinks alike
At the dinner, US Secretary of State Clinton underscored that Russia will be represented in the international forums in any case, either positively or negatively. We have a choice to either cooperate with Russia or not. According to Clinton, it would be worthwhile to cooperate with Russia. Similarly, in his press conference Stubb emphasised that we should “offer our hand in cooperation to Russia”.
In the private talks between the Foreign Minister and the Secretary of State, Clinton commended the views Stubb had presented of Russia even in other respects.
New Stubb-Clinton meeting in sight
The Foreign Minister and the Secretary of State will soon have an opportunity to continue their private discussions. Stubb will meet Clinton again in the meeting on Arctic issues to be organised in Washington DC on 6-8 April. “This meeting was good in every sense,” Stubb said, praising what the transatlantic dinner as a whole had offered.
In addition to Russia, the key topics of the dinner included the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan. According to Foreign Minister Stubb, Clinton was cautiously optimistic about the situation in the Middle East. As concerns Afghanistan, Stubb considered it interesting that the addressed made on the subject during the evening concentrated on civilian solutions instead of military ones.