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Europe must make contact with Putin — Stubb

The Finnish president opined that France or UK should be the one to speak to the Russian leader

Finnish President Alexander Stubb Hannah McKay, Pool Photo via AP

Finnish President Alexander Stubb

© Hannah McKay, Pool Photo via AP

LONDON, April 3. /TASS/. The Coaltion of the Willing for Ukraine has concluded that at least one European leader should talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Finnish President Alexander Stubb.

"Coalition of the Willing agreed that at least one European leader should speak to Russia. France or UK should be the one to speak to Putin," Reuters news agency quotes him as saying.

Earlier, Stubb said that European countries had broached the topic of restoring contact with Russia at a summit of the Coalition of the Willing in Paris, adding that the dialogue should be coordinated between all parties. He did not, however, provide a date for the potential future conversation, nor did he specify which of the European leaders intends to engage Putin in dialogue.

At the March 27 summit of the Coalition of the Willing about 30 countries discussed possible security guarantees for Kiev after the end of the Ukrainian conflict. One of the main topics was the potential deployment of a military contingent in Ukraine. The United States did not participate in this summit.

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