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Kremlin unaware if Putin to congratulate Stubb given Finland’s 'unfriendly stance'

Finland held the second, runoff round of its presidential election on Sunday, which former Prime Minister Stubb won, securing 51.6% of the vote

MOSCOW, February 12. /TASS/. Finland and its current authorities take an unfriendly stance toward Moscow, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday in commenting on whether President Vladimir Putin may potentially extend his formal congratulations to Finnish President-elect Alexander Stubb.

"Finland is currently on the [Russian] list of unfriendly countries. It fully sides with the sanctions [against Russia] and statements by the president-elect are of an extremely unfriendly nature," Peskov said.

Finland held the second, runoff round of its presidential election on Sunday, which former Prime Minister Stubb won, securing 51.6% of the vote. His election rival Pekka Haavisto, a Finnish parliament member and former foreign minister, garnered 48.4% of the vote.

Voter turnout for the presidential election was reported at 67.6% Finland’s president-elect will take the formal oath of office in early March.

Alexander Stubb was born on April 1, 1968. In 2008-2010, he served as Finland’s foreign minister. In 2010-2014 he was minister for EU Affairs and Foreign Trade, and then moved up to the post of prime minister, which he held in 2014-2015. In 2020, he left politics to join the faculty of the Florence School of Transnational Governance in Italy as a lecturer.

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