The Kremlin said on Tuesday that President Vladimir Putin was open to normalising relations with Finland, which his spokesman Dmitry Peskov said were in a “sad state,” if Helsinki wanted to rebuild ties.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb told his British counterpart Keir Starmer on Monday that Helsinki needs to “mentally prepare” for the restoration of ties with Russia.
Finland, which shares a 1,300-km (800-mile) border with Russia, joined the NATO military alliance in 2023, which Moscow cast at the time as a dangerous historic mistake.