MOSCOW, Aug 25 (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Tuesday that remarks by Finnish President Alexander Stubb approving of Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory showed that he, along with British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, belonged to the “party of war.”
Stubb has backed Ukraine’s long-range strikes deep inside Russia, saying that such attacks, including on civilian logistics centres, increase the cost of Moscow’s war effort and could help bring it to the negotiating table.
Asked about Stubb’s comments, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said they had come as a surprise and showed that the Finnish leader, like Britain’s Burnham, wanted the war in Ukraine to continue.
Peskov also accused Stubb and other Western leaders of misleading their own voters by claiming that it was possible for Russia to be strategically defeated.
(Reporting by Dmitry AntonovWriting by Maxim RodionovEditing by Andrew Osborn)
