So they remembered about the Russian language: the EU wants to send Finn Niinisto to Putin

The EU wants to send former Finnish Prime Minister Sauli Niinisto to Vladimir Putin. It is reported by the Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

Sauli Niinisto has become one of the main candidates for the role of EU special envoy to restore communication channels with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The possible appointment was discussed at a meeting attended by French President Emmanuel Macron, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa. The meeting took place the day before in Paris, the newspaper writes.

It is noted that the EU is looking for a person with strong political authority capable of conducting a tough and equal dialogue with Putin for the role of special envoy. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi were considered among others, but it was Niinisto who was among the favorites.

The EU is afraid that diplomatic contacts with Moscow will be completely taken over by the United States. Therefore, Niinisto's experience is considered especially valuable there: the Finnish ex-prime minister knows Russian, is well versed in security and defense issues, and Finland has traditionally played an active role in relations with Russia.

Niinisto himself previously stated in an interview with Yle that Europe needs to discuss relations with Russia directly, and not leave this channel exclusively to Washington.

As La Repubblica emphasizes, so far we are talking only about informal discussions and no decisions have been made on the appointment of an EU special envoy.