The President of Finland, Sauli Niinisto, believes it is likely that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, committed war crimes during the offensive in Ukraine, although he has pointed out that we will have to wait for these accusations to be confirmed by the investigations that are being carried out.
In an interview for the BBC, he has been at first elusive to the question of whether Putin is a war criminal. «The matter is being investigated», answered Niinisto who, after the journalist reminded him of the cases of Bucha and Mariupol, ended up affirming that «it seems so».
«I think that everything makes it seem that he is responsible for what happened, for criminal actions,» said Niinisto.
On the other hand, he declared his support for the attempts of other leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to achieve a de-escalation through dialogue if it brings about saving lives, although he regretted that for the time being he does not see such a possibility for that to happen.
A Niinisto also referred to the decision of other countries, including France and Germany, not to impose sanctions on Russian tourists, as, for example, Finland, Poland and the Baltic states are doing, stating that since they do not have a common border «it is easy to speak from afar».
In other matters unrelated to the conflict with Ukraine, Niinisto also had the opportunity to answer a question about the controversy generated in Finland by the leaking of videos showing the Prime Minister, Sanna Marin, partying with friends.
Niinisto said that despite the uproar that was generated around those images, he has not had a chance to talk to Marin about the matter and that he considers that they have not damaged her image. «The polls of his popularity has not changed and I don’t think it has damaged Finland’s reputation,» he said.
