Estonian commentator: individual countries risk undermining Europe's unified stance toward Russia
Estonian commentator Peeter Kaldre argues that phone calls between Finland's and Norway's leaders and Russian President Putin divide Europe and benefit Moscow. He calls for Europe to speak with one voice to both Russia and the United States.
In a commentary for Estonia's public broadcaster ERR, Peeter Kaldre criticizes the phone calls that Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre held with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. He writes that Europe must address both Russia and the United States with a single voice, because moves by individual countries could create a "false start" and weaken the shared message.
The calls and their motives
Kaldre notes that the two politicians may have acted with good intentions, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reportedly asked for such contacts personally. Still, he argues, a leader of a country at war can be expected to grasp at every straw, while experienced politicians should think a step ahead. He points out that Stubb and Støre stressed they spoke for their own countries rather than for Europe, and that Europe is now divided over whether such contacts are useful.
Moscow's shifting view
The author describes how, after World War II, the United States was the main enemy of the Soviet Union and later Russia, until things began to change when Donald Trump became U.S. president in 2024. The U.S. stopped military aid to Ukraine and made major concessions to Russia. Europe's growing support for Ukraine and tougher sanctions, in Kaldre's view, made the continent Moscow's new primary adversary.
On October 25, Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said Europe's involvement in Ukraine peace talks was critically important, which Kaldre calls the first such concession from Moscow. Three days later, Ushakov said Europeans were not invited to technical talks among Russia, the United States and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi, though they could "buy" a ticket.
Weapons supplies and nuclear deterrence
The U.S. no longer supplies weapons to Ukraine directly; Europe buys U.S. arms with its own funds and passes them on under the PURL program. Kaldre also cites Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby's "NATO 3.0" concept, which would sharply reduce U.S. conventional forces in Europe while keeping the nuclear umbrella. France and the United Kingdom are discussing a joint European nuclear deterrent, which several other countries have shown interest in. The author calls this a new "red line" for Moscow.
