Finnish premier says new sanctions on Russia could mark turning point in war

ISTANBUL

Finnish Prime Minister Petteri Orpo said on Thursday that the recent EU and US sanctions on Russia could change the course of the war, according to broadcaster Yle.

"(Russian President) Putin believes only in power. If we want to stop the war, we have to be on the same level or even stronger," Orpo said ahead of the European Council meeting.

Warning that Russia poses a “permanent threat” to European security, he also urged US President Donald Trump, in an interview with Politico, to allow Ukraine to use America’s long-range Tomahawk cruise missiles to strike targets inside Russia.

"I really hope that they can get the capabilities that they need to strike Russia and defend themselves," Orpo noted.

He also said he hoped more weapons could be purchased from Europe, while acknowledging that European countries lack some of the capabilities Ukraine needs and that Kyiv must therefore be allowed to buy from the US.

"This is not only a question of Tomahawks. If we can find a solution on how we can finance Ukraine strongly and find a long-term solution using frozen assets, it will be so strong a message to Putin that he understands that he cannot win this war. This can be a game changer," Orpo added.

The US imposed new sanctions on Wednesday on Russia’s two largest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, citing Moscow’s “lack of serious commitment” to a peace process to end the Ukraine war.

The Treasury Department said in a statement that the measures target Russia’s energy sector to “degrade the Kremlin’s ability to raise revenue for its war machine” and “support its weakened economy.”

The European Union also passed its latest package of sanctions on Russia, the bloc’s foreign policy chief announced on Thursday.

"We just adopted our 19th sanctions package. It targets Russian banks, crypto exchanges, entities in India and China, among others," Kaja Kallas wrote on US social media company X.