"Now nobody is coming to that table", Karis said in an interview with Finnish broadcaster Yle, published Tuesday, during a two-day visit to Helsinki.
Karis has said previously this year that European countries should prepare for dialogue with Russia and appoint a special envoy, warning that the war in Ukraine could end quickly and unexpectedly. His position has sparked a dispute with Estonia's foreign ministry, which holds that no dialogue can be conducted with Russia as an aggressor state.
The Estonian president stressed that the EU needs a "plan for Russia" — covering both the negotiation phase and the post-war period — and that work should begin immediately, given how time-consuming EU processes tend to be.
"The EU has invested a lot in Ukraine. It cannot be the case that when the time comes, the U.S., Russia and perhaps a third country sit at the negotiating table, and Europe is not there at all", he said.
Karis acknowledged that relations with Russia would remain "difficult" for a long time even after the war ends, adding that what mattered most was whether Russia would change. He pointed to Nazi Germany as a historical precedent, noting that within a decade of World War Two it had joined both the European Community and NATO.
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Source: PAP