The politician stressed that his talks with Andrzej Duda focused on the situation in the Baltic Sea region, as well as on strengthening cooperation with Ukraine.
“Finland and Poland have a lot in common. We are NATO members, allies and we have a common Baltic Sea,” X said on the platform.
“Helsingin Sanomat” noted that Stubb’s visit to Poland was the first of his term in office, which began six months ago..
The President of Finland, who was a guest at the Conference of Ambassadors and Consuls General of the Republic of Poland in Warsaw, assessed that Russia’s sinister actions and Russian intimidation “paradoxically contributed to increasing security in the Baltic region”, thanks to Finland and Sweden’s membership in NATO.
“Finland and Sweden are security providers,” he said, recalling that the Scandinavian countries have, among others, an armada of 250 fighter jets..
During his speech, Stubb, the largest Finnish daily noted, also paid close attention to hybrid warfare, through which Russia seeks to “destabilize societies”. In a situation where there may be more and more hybrid actions of this kind, he advised “keeping a cool head”, that is, first identifying the event, assessing the facts and then identifying the perpetrator. Only then should corrective measures be taken. Stubb would like – concluded “HS” – “the European and allied countries themselves to react in this way”.
Today we have common problems and we are trying to respond to these common problems. The biggest problem is the war in Ukraine and Russian aggression. – said the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda, after the meeting with his Finnish counterpart. It is safe to say that we follow a common policy both within the North Atlantic Alliance, the EU and in bilateral cooperation. We speak with one voice on these issues and exchange experiences. – emphasized the head of our state, expressing joy at Finland’s recent accession to NATO.
I urged the President that the Finnish Armed Forces should consider participating as much as possible in the military exercises that will take place in our country. I am thinking here of the Dragon and Anakonda exercises (Polish exercises with the participation of allies – PAP). We would like to cooperate as closely as possible and increase interoperability between our armed forces. We are very pleased to have the Finnish Armed Forces in the Alliance. – said the president.
He added that he also encouraged the President of Finland to increase the participation of Finnish soldiers in NATO institutions located in Poland – at the headquarters of the Multinational Division Northeast in Elbląg and at the newly established JATEC center in Bydgoszcz.
Duda also highlighted that the presidents dedicated a large part of the meeting to the situation in Ukraine and on the borders. The President stressed that Finland faces the same migration pressure on the border with Russia as Poland faces on the border with Belarus.. We talked about this threat, as well as what policy should be followed in this area. – he said.
The President of Finland highlighted the importance of talks on hybrid activities. First we need to understand what really happened, verify the facts and only then coordinate actions with our allies like Poland, and then communicate and attribute these attacks to specific entities. – he explained.
The Polish president drew attention to the importance of continued support for Ukraine with military equipment, as well as the importance of nuclear security, especially the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant. Duda added that he had invited the Finnish president as a guest of honor to the meeting of the heads of the Three Seas countries in April 2025.
In his speech, Stubb said that Poland and Finland have a lot in common. We have historical experience with Russia and we see Russia as the number one security threat in our region.. We both reacted very decisively and effectively to the Russian aggression against Ukraine. – he said.
According to Stubb, Finland – like Poland – is largely a provider, not a consumer, of security in NATO. We know how to prepare and we do this from both a military and a civilian point of view, so we look at our defense in detail. – noted the Finnish president.
He assessed that Finland and Poland were among the few countries that were concerned about the condition of their armed forces in the period after the end of the Cold War. He recalled that Finland still has around 280,000 reservists ready to mobilize in case of a threat.. On the other hand, he added, Finland’s security is now strengthened by NATO membership. We have a lot to learn from Poland – Finland is a new member state of the Alliance, while Poland has been a member for 25 years; it also has one of the strongest armies in Europe Stubb said.
In addition to the meeting with President Duda, President Stubb also met with the Speaker of the Sejm, Szymon Hołownia, among others, and also participated in the Conference of Managers of Foreign Posts of the Republic of Poland, held on Tuesday in Warsaw, where he met, among others, with the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Radosław Sikorski.
