Finland calls for US, EU to pile more pressure to stop Russia's expansion campaign

Finland is pushing for stronger action against Russia’s energy sector, saying current sanctions are not forcing Moscow to reconsider its war in Ukraine, according to reporting provided for this briefing.

Elina Valtonen, the Foreign Minister, said the latest steps taken jointly by the United States and the European Union were meaningful but not sufficient to change the situation. She said the objective now is to affect Russia’s cost calculations because its political goals remain unchanged.

Valtonen spoke in Malaysia at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit, where Finland is signing on to the group’s main treaty. She described how the recent US sanctions targeted Rosneft PJSC and Lukoil PJSC, the two largest Russian oil producers, while the EU moved to block imports of Russian liquefied natural gas.

“The step that the United States took the other day in lockstep with Europe to strengthen the sanctions against Russia is so important,” Valtonen said.“However, we simply have to increase the pressure.”

She added that “we seem to be unable to change Russia’s imperialistic goals, but we should be able to change their calculus,” and noted that “a war costs a lot of money” and Russia’s economy is still carrying that cost.

White House and regional diplomacy move at the same time

The tightening of sanctions came during a broader diplomatic sequence. Donald Trump, on his first trip to the region since returning to the White House earlier this year, is expected to meet ASEAN officials on Sunday.

Later, he is scheduled to meet Xi Jinping in South Korea, where Trump has said he will raise China’s role in applying pressure on Vladimir Putin. This discussion comes after Chinese state-owned Sinopec canceled purchases of seaborne Russian crude following the US blacklisting of Rosneft and Lukoil.

Russia has increased its military strikes in Ukraine and has shown no interest in stopping the conflict. Trump also postponed a planned meeting with Putin in Budapest, saying he did not want “a wasted meeting” without clear prospects for progress.

According to Bloomberg, Finland views energy trade as one of the last remaining major leverage points in the conflict, arguing that sanctions need to remain targeted, continuous, and hard to evade.

European coalition presses military and economic measures

Meanwhile, over in the UK, Keir Starmer led a meeting of the so-called coalition of the willing, bringing together thirty governments working to support Ukraine and defeat Putin.

Starmer called for providing long-range missiles, removing more Russian oil and gas from global markets, using frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine’s defense budget, expanding air defense capabilities, and maintaining military pressure on Russian positions.

The UK Prime Minister said:- “I think it’s important when we say we want to take oil and gas off the market, that we’re describing an end of a process, not the beginning of a process. I think it is really important that we continue to bear down. There are some countries which, in my view, should be moving a lot more quickly in relation to this.”

Dozens of governments joined virtually, including Emmanuel Macron, who co-chairs the coalition. After the meeting, Starmer said Putin’s “ludicrous demands for Ukrainian land which he could not and has not taken by force” show he is not negotiating in good faith.

“So we have been clear today that we must respond,” Starmer said. “Working with the US this coalition is determined to go further than ever to ratchet up the pressure on Putin – from the battlefield to his war economy – because that is the only way to change his mind and push him back to the table.”

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