Ramaphosa defends stance on Russian invasion, Finnish president disagrees

SA and Finland may be friends, but the two countries differ on the Russia-Ukraine war.  

President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Finnish counterpart, President Sauli Väinämö Niinistö, spent a considerable amount of time discussing the war which started in February last year.  

They laid bare their views during a joint press briefing after Niinistö 's state visit at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Tuesday. Ramaphosa again stood firm on South Africa’s “non-aligned” position while Niinistö outright condemned Russia for invading Ukraine.  

Niinistö said, “The war in Ukraine and how it started is that the big neighbour attacks a smaller one from different sides of the country.” He said it was “a full invasion” and it had aroused feelings among Europeans that it was wrong.

“When people have an opinion, it reflects on politics and this feeling was surely noted. Why [our] government decided to help Ukraine in Finland was because we were attacked by the Soviet Union in 1939 and we were left almost alone. This is in our memory.”

A Finnish journalist asked Ramaphosa why SA has resisted calls to condemn Russia.

Reiterating SA’s position, Ramaphosa said, “We have been very clear right from the beginning that conflicts of whatever nature are best resolved through negotiation.”  

This, Ramaphosa said, was a lesson taught by the late president Nelson Mandela. He said when Mandela was in prison he always said apartheid should be best resolved through negotiation. 

“And he triumphed in that upon being released the negotiations then ensued and they brought the end to the nightmare that was apartheid and that is the great lesson we learnt which we continue to propagate and say conflict needs to be resolved that way.” 

SA's position on the matter has upset the West, prompting Ramaphosa to say he would be sending a special envoy to the US soon to again explain SA's position.

Ramaphosa said that in his discussion with Niinistö, the Finnish president explained the reasons Finland wanted to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato). 

“It is within Finland’s rights to decide to join Nato.. We can never really question the right of a nation to decide which formation they want to be part of,” said Ramaphosa. 

Ramaphosa said one of the reasons SA adopted the non-aligned position was to ensure it played a role in bringing the conflict to an end.  

“I have on a number of occasions spoken to (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin and my message has always been clear: there needs to be a negotiation and also when I have spoken to (Ukrainian) President (Volodymyr) Zelensky because we do believe that every conflict even if it is a war, in the end has to come to an end and the end needs to be a negotiated conclusion.”  

Therefore, he said, SA still held that view and a number of countries on the continent shared that sentiment. He said the country supported efforts by a number of countries to bring the conflict to a negotiated end. 

Niinistö said, “What we have seen is that the support from European and Western countries has increased but nevertheless the aim is to help Ukrainians defend their country, and there is nothing wrong in that.”

.”  

Ramaphosa was asked whether SA would arrest Putin when he lands in SA in August for the Brics summit. This is after the International Criminal Court’s decision in March to issue a warrant of arrest against Putin. 

Ramaphosa said: “The Brics summit is often attended by the heads of state as well as the ministers and other officials and in our case we have tendered to have an outreach programme where we invite a number of other countries to be part of this.”  

Having heard what the ICC has said in relation to Putin, Ramaphosa said, “That matter is under consideration and discussion.”  

He will address the nation on the matter once it has been finalised.  

Niinistö said Finland has joined the ICC and will follow its opinions and orders.  

TimesLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.