Donald Trump growing impatient with Russia, says Finnish President Alexander Stubb | World News

US President Donald Trump is growing increasingly frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to Finland’s President Alexander Stubb, who warned that tougher sanctions could be on the horizon if Russia continues to res international pressure over Ukraine.
Speaking at the Lennart Meri security conference in Tallinn, Estonia, Stubb revealed that Trump and Putin are scheduled for a phone call on Monday — a conversation that could significantly influence upcoming policy decisions. “Zelenskyy is patient and President Trump is starting to be impatient — but in the right direction, that is, towards Russia,” Stubb said, as reported The Guardian.
‘Bone-crushing’ sanctions in the works
According to Stubb, US Senators Lindsey Graham and Richard Blumenthal may soon introduce a sanctions bill targeting Russia’s financial backbone. The Finnish leader said he has been in near-daily contact with Graham, who reportedly described the proposed sanctions as “bone-crushing.”
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The package could specifically target foreign firms that trade in Russian energy, aligning with Trump’s broader tariff strategy. An earlier draft of the bill even considered 500% tariffs on goods from countries dealing in Russian energy — a sweeping move that echoes Trump’s aggressive trade tactics in the past.
Stubb stressed that merely threatening sanctions, even if not immediately enforced, could still serve as a powerful diplomatic lever.

Russia ‘no longer a great power,’ Stubb tells Trump
Stubb disclosed details of a recent conversation with Trump in which he tried to shift the US leader’s perception of Russia’s power. “It is smaller than Italy, slightly larger than Spain economically,” he said. “Militarily, it wanted to deny the independent sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine three years ago. It has advanced less than one percentage point this year, its interest rate is over 20%, and its reserves are out.”
He added, “It is not a country which can be seen as a big power anymore.”Story continues below this ad
Stubb said his goal is to persuade the American adminration to view free trade and collective defense as more effective than transactional diplomacy. “Trump’s worldview is not far from the 19th-century concert of powers… We have to convince the US that we are security providers, not consumers.”
Stubb emphasised that any negotiations with Putin must include Ukraine and not pass President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “At the top level, we should not go solo,” he said, noting that any European outreach to Moscow should be coordinated through the E3 leadership of Britain, France, and Germany.
(With inputs from The Guardian)
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