Finnish MPs have reacted with concern to the news that US President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, held a phone call on Wednesday.
According to Trump, the two discussed starting negotiations to end the war in Ukraine.
Later, Trump also spoke on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Social Democratic parliamentarian Jani Kokko told Yle that the call gave Putin the position with the United States that he had been seeking.
"Putin has wanted both himself and Russia to be seen as an equal discussion partner with the United States and has been keen to draw spheres of influence with another great power. In that sense, it is extremely concerning that the White House appears to be responding positively to these demands," Kokko told Yle's breakfast show on Thursday.
Green Party MP and former Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto also expressed concern at this latest development.
He said the call was conciliatory on Trump's part, aligning more towards Russia's views. This is worrying in terms of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, Haavisto said.
"The risk is that peace talks are taking place without Ukraine's involvement and at the cost of its territorial integrity," he added.
National Coalition Party MP and former defence forces chief Jarmo Lindberg also said the situation was a tough spot for Europe, highlighting the fact that Trump called Putin before phoning Zelensky.
"It suggests the order in which things will progress," he noted.
Haavisto also weighed in on the terms for Nato-Ukraine cooperation set by US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth. These include ruling out Ukrainian membership in the alliance and the position that a return to Ukraine’s pre-2014 borders before Russia invaded Crimea and eastern Ukraine was an unrealistic objective.
"I don't believe it's a particularly good thing that terms are dictated from up above before Ukraine has even sat down at the negotiating table and presented its own conditions," Haavisto told Yle.