Stubb: China has privately promised not to let Russia go nuclear

Finnish President Alexander Stubb revealed in an interview published Saturday that China has privately assured Finland it would not permit Russia to use nuclear weapons. Speaking to Paul Ronzheimer of the Axel Springer Global Reporters Network, Stubb said he raised the issue directly with China's foreign minister during a meeting earlier this year.

"Their foreign minister visited me this summer, and I raised the issue," Stubb said. "He told me they would never allow it to happen. I consider that a fairly solid form of deterrence." Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Stubb in Helsinki on July 5, with discussions covering Russia's war in Ukraine and broader European security. China remains one of Moscow's key economic and diplomatic partners.

A call for calm

Stubb also suggested that Russia benefits from keeping Europeans preoccupied with fears of nuclear escalation or a direct strike on NATO. He argued Moscow wants Europeans endlessly debating whether Russia will escalate or attack the alliance. His advice remained characteristically measured: stay calm and vigilant, avoid dramatizing the situation, but prepare for the worst to prevent it from happening.

This restrained approach echoes comments Stubb made in May, after a drone entered Finnish airspace near Helsinki prompting a fighter jet response, when he stressed Finland faced no direct military threat. In the new interview, he similarly downplayed fears of an imminent Russian attack on NATO, describing Moscow's probing actions as more provocative teasing than war preparation, since Russian forces remain tied down in Ukraine while NATO's deterrent capacity makes a direct assault unlikely.

At the same time, Stubb argued Europe is nearing a point where reopening direct political dialogue with Russia would be worthwhile — a notable position from the leader of a country sharing a 1,340-kilometer border with Russia that joined NATO after Moscow's full-scale invasion. He stressed Europe isn't there yet, with supporting Ukraine remaining the immediate priority, but added that the conversation cannot simply be muted indefinitely.