1/15 My address to the diplomatic corps at the Helsinki Cathedral on the 3rd anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine: 2/15 Few of us could have anticipated three years ago that we would still be here in February 2025. Mr Putin expected to take Kyiv in three days and install a puppet government, and – in all honesty – much of the West shared this expectation. It did not materialize.

1/12 My congratulations to @realDonaldTrump and @JDVance on winning the presidency of the oldest continuous democracy in the world!

Some quick thoughts on the situation: 2/12 During the campaign, the media and the liberals have repeatedly called Mr Trump a clown, a conman, a fascist, a felon, incompetent, and whatnot.

Yet, he won the election. What does that say about the rival and their agenda? They lost the election to Mr Trump.

1/5 Integrating Ukraine to the West is as important to the West as it is to Ukraine. The membership process in itself gives Ukraine a strong incentive to introduce and implement reforms that the country needs in order to be a stronger country.

bbc.com/news/world-eur… 2/5 Ukraine needs to be an internally strong country, because an internally weak Ukraine was and will be an attractive target for Russian hybrid and conventional aggressions. A weak Ukraine would be a constant problem for Europe.

1/10 I arrived at Kyiv on Friday afternoon to participate at the ceremonies of the 90th anniversary of the Holodomor, the man-made famine that claimed the lives of millions of Ukrainians in 1932-33. 2/10 I started the day with a bilateral meeting with the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Mr Stefanchuk. The Finnish Ambassador was also present.

1/17 Pieni osa suomalaisista poliitikoista, suuri osa mediasta ja valtaosa "ihmisoikeusprofessoreista" on sitä mieltä, että turvapaikanhakijat eivät ole uhka ja että kaikki Venäjän rajalle kuskaamat afgaanit, jemeniläiset ja somalit tulee ottaa sisään, koska he ovat hädänalaisia. 2/17 Somaliasta, Afganistanista ja Jemenistä on hyvin pitkä matka Suomeen. Rajalle tulevat henkilöt eivät ole tuhansien kilometrien matkaa rämpineitä, sotaa pakenevia ihmisiä. He ovat oleskelleet Venäjällä syystä tai toisesta ja statuksella tai toisella.

1/7 90 years ago a man-made famine claimed the lives of millions of Ukrainians in then-Soviet Ukraine and adjacent regions of Russia, Moldova and Kazakhstan. The tragedy is widely known by its Ukrainian name, holodomor.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holodomor 2/7 25 states and the European Parliament have recognized holodomor as a genocide against the Ukrainian nation and part of the Soviet effort to crush Ukraine as a cultural and ethnic entity.

1/3 Artikkelin mukaan sosiaali- ja terveysministeriö sekä opetus- ja kulttuuriministeriö ovat myöntäneet kyseiselle "SS-miesten yhdistykselle" yhteensä 223 000 euron avustukset.

is.fi/politiikka/art… 2/3 Tukipäätöksiä ovat siis kaiketi tehneet vasemmistoliiton ministerit Aino-Kaisa Pekonen, Hanna Sarkkinen ja Li Andersson.

1/4 Erittäin mielenkiintoinen keskustelu.

Venäjä on vuosikymmenten saatossa mädättänyt Länsi-Euroopan poliittista järjestelmää rahalla ja halvalla fossiilisella energialla.

2/4 Kremlin lonkeroita etsitään yleensä oikean ja vasemman äärilaidan hörhöpuolueista, jotka rummuttavatkin innokkaasti Venäjän asiaa. Tällaisten puolueiden arvo ja hyöty Venäjälle on kuitenkin vähäinen, koska niillä ei ole kotimaissaan valtaa.

1/11 The media ask politicians and politicians ask experts for predictions on how the war in Ukraine will proceed and whether it will end this year.

Predictions are useless. There have been many over the past year, and their accuracy has been poor. 2/11 But more than that: predictions are dangerous because they guide our actions. The slow, timid and inadequate reaction of the West to the Russian invasion was to a large extent based on predictions that Russia would defeat Ukraine quickly anyway.

1/4 Hesarilla on mielenkiintoinen linja alaikäisten rikoksista uutisoitaessa. 2/4 20.12.2022: 17-vuotiasta kutsutaan 20 kertaa "mieheksi" ja hänen nimensä julkaistaan. Ryöstö ja 2 törkeää pahoinpitelyä, 2v10kk ehdotonta.

hs.fi/kaupunki/art-2…

1/12 History has a habit of repeating itself for the reason that history consists of human action and human behavior. A person with a given mentality reacts to a given stimulus in a given manner, regardless of time and place. 2/12 Since the number and relative incidence of mentality types is limited and constant, we see similar action and behavior throughout history. With similar results.

1/5 Riippumaton ja puolueeton Yle on valmistautumassa eduskuntavaaleihin tavanomaisella sapluunalla. Muutama huomio tästä uutisesta:

yle.fi/a/74-20008452 2/5 Viestien lähettäjä on todettu "perussuomalaisten kannattajaksi" sillä perusteella, että hän seuraa twitterissä minua tai Purraa.

Myös Annika Saarikko, Li Andersson ja Anna-Maja Henriksson seuraavat minua twitterissä. Ovatko he perussuomalaisten kannattajia?

1/20 This week, I had a breakfast meeting with the Ambassador of Georgia, Mr. Irakli Khutsurauli.

Our two countries have much in common, including the common headache in between. 2/20 As the Ambassador noted, the Russian campaign to restore the lost empire did not begin in 2022 or even 2014. It began in Georgia in 2008. Because of no Western reaction then and a feeble reaction in 2014, we have a total war of destruction in the middle of Europe in 2022.

1/8 Congratulations to Ukraine and its armed forces on the long-awaited liberation of Kherson and the west bank of river Dnipro!

@OlgaDibrova1

bbc.com/news/world-eur… 2/8 Some commentators and "experts" have over the past two months made belittling comments on the operation for its "slowness" or "lack of progress", as if it were the task of the UAF to keep the audience entertained with spectacular frontal attacks.

1/4 Many people in Europe have been worried about the mid-term elections results in the US and how they might impact the willingness of the Congress to support Ukraine. 2/4 I would worry much more about the fact that Europe combined supports Ukraine much less than the US alone; that the UK alone supports Ukraine more than the EU combined; that Latvia and Estonia support Ukraine more than France.

1/4 At the moment, Mr Putin is watching CLOSELY what our reaction will be.

If we do not react, this will become the new norm. Whenever there is a military setback, the Russians will bomb Ukrainian cities far from the battlefield. Because they can. 2/4 Condemning the terror bombings "in the strongest possible terms" is not a reaction. Or, rather, it is the reaction Mr Putin will be happy to see.

1/8 If I am not mistaken, no decisions have been made on what to do with the Russian assets frozen abroad, including the $300 billion foreign reserves of the Russian Central Bank.

This money, needless to say, should be seized and used for arming and then reconstructing Ukraine. 2/8 I have raised the issue several times with our own ministers. The reply tends to be that this is "something to be considered" or being discussed". Nobody seems to have a principled objection. Yet the issue does not seem to move anywhere. Seven months have passed.

1/6 Pro-Kremlin commentators try to maintain optimism.

The damage to the bridge is not that serious.
It will be soon repaired.
The bridge itself is not that important.
The ferries can compensate.
Etc. 2/6 The mere knowledge that Ukraine can hit the bridge or any target in Crimea is fundamentally important. Russia has to allocate more and more of its already stretched resources to protect Crimea and hunt Ukrainian operators there.

1/9 Predicting is difficult. Especially predicting the future. I will make an attempt here and explain the assumptions on which the prediction is based. 2/9 Mr Putin is the kind of person who refuses to lose. His broader mentality and his current state of mind make it impossible for him to stop the war without a victory.

1/5 For seven months, the West has treated Mr Putin with relative respect despite his being a genocidal tyrant, terrorist and war criminal. We talk to him, listen to him, pay attention to his speeches and declarations, and sit down with his cronies (like Mr Lavrov). 2/5 The general argument is that it is good to keep channels open and leave room for a diplomatic solution.

This has not worked very well. Mr Putin has been given every opportunity to back down, stop the war, negotiate, deescalate.

He will not do that.

1/9 There is much speculation on whether and when Russia might use nuclear weapons. This threat should be taken seriously, many say.

Let us think about the risk and what "taking seriously" means. 2/9 The likelihood of Russia using nukes cannot be calculated. Russia has never used them. We do not know the circumstances under which Russia actually would use nukes - until it does.