How Finland's super-fit president put his nation at heart of Ukraine peace talks
'I'm right here,' a smiling Alexander Stubb said from his seat at the top table opposite the US president and next to Volodymyr Zelensky.
'Oh, you look better than I've ever seen you look,' Mr Trump shot back instantly to his counterpart.
There were more compliments to come for the 'young, powerful man' leading Finland, which has emerged as a crucial player in the Ukraine peace negotiations despite being a nation of only 5.6 million people.
'Some of the international media might wonder why is the president of Finland here?' Mr Stubb said as he sat with the leaders of the UK, France, Germany, Italy, the European Commission, Nato, Ukraine and the US.
'I think the reason is probably that we might come from a small country, but we have a long border with Russia, over 800 miles,' he told reporters. 'And we, of course, have our own historical experience with Russia from World War Two.'
Finland's two wars against the Soviet Union ended in the loss of about 10 per cent of its territory and in limits on its sovereignty to enforce its neutrality.
The term 'Finlandisation' was coined to describe how it was forced to adopt a position of neutrality by its larger, belligerent neighbour.
Only in 1995, after the fall of the Soviet Union, could Finland join the European Union. It joined Nato only in April 2023, as a direct response to Putin's illegal invasion of Ukraine.
The experience could find echoes in the present if Kyiv bows to pressure from Mr Trump to sacrifice some of its land to establish peace with Russia, which is intent on 'Finlandising' Ukraine.
Mr Stubb said peace was closer now than ever, thanks to Mr Trump. 'If I look at the silver lining of where we stand right now, we found a solution in 1944, and I'm sure that we'll be able to find a solution in 2025 to end Russia's war of aggression and find – and get – a lasting and just peace,' he said.
Mr Stubb's father and grandfather were born in Karelia, territory that Finland was forced to cede and remains part of Russia.
After the White House meeting, Mr Stubb stressed that – unlike Finland after the war – Ukraine was not alone and would not be forced to give up territory.
Mr Stubb, a bespectacled 57-year-old conservative with a taste for Ironman triathlons, is the real reason that Finland finds itself among the power players.
The former prime minister, who has a British wife and a doctorate from the London School of Economics, was elected president in February 2024. It was the first vote held since Finland joined Nato. Had it been up to Mr Stubb, a staunch supporter of Ukraine, his country would have entered the alliance in 1995.
As president, he is the head of state, supreme commander of the Finnish Defence Forces, and leads the nation's foreign policy.
Before turning to politics, however, his dream had been to become a professional golfer. He secured a golf scholarship at Furman University in South Carolina.
Mr Stubb's mean golf game proved to be his secret weapon in his mission to charm Mr Trump.
He played with the US president on an unofficial trip to Mar-a-Lago in March this year, only a month after Mr Trump's infamous Oval Office bust-up with Mr Zelensky.
Mr Trump was won over. 'He is a very good player, and we won the men's member-guest golf tournament at Trump International Golf Club,' the president said on his Truth Social account.
Mr Stubb told The Wall Street Journal last week: 'It's very important to be able to play golf with the president. It's quite rare that a president from a small country gets to spend some seven hours in the presence of a president of a big country.' He added: 'Golf was quite a useful tool there. I have to admit.'
Since their round of golf, the US president has been getting tougher on Putin and softer on Mr Zelensky.
Meanwhile, Mr Stubb has forged a role as a go-between between Mr Trump, European leaders and Mr Zelensky.
At the funeral of Pope Francis in April, a key moment in the detente between Mr Zelensky and Mr Trump, Mr Stubb was seated between the president and Melania Trump.
He is said to be in regular contact with the US president, helped in part by his early morning starts to do triathlon training, which means he can swap texts at a reasonable hour on American time.
'I can communicate what Europeans think, or what Zelensky thinks to Trump, and then I can communicate what Trump thinks to my European colleagues,' he said.
Helsinki snagged an invite to the high-profile summit, while other much bigger EU countries missed out.
Ukraine requested that Finland be one of the countries invited to the talks in Washington, with the White House then inviting Mr Stubb, a source familiar told The Telegraph.
There was no place for Poland, another neighbour of Russia and Ukraine that is spending big on defence.
Mr Trump had reportedly infuriated Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, by asking for his bitter rival – Karol Nawrocki, Warsaw's Maga-allied president – to attend a teleconference on Ukraine for European leaders last week.
Spain, which is firmly at odds with the US over Mr Trump's demands for higher defence spending, was also not invited.
Stubb acclaimed for diplomatic coup
The Finnish press has delighted in celebrating Mr Stubb's diplomatic coup. 'Stubb has clearly succeeded on a personal level in speaking with Trump in a way that has appealed to Trump and created a confidential connection that appears to be lasting and producing results,' former ambassador Hannu Himanen told public broadcaster Yle.
Ed Arnold, a senior research fellow on European security at Royal United Services Institute, told The Telegraph that Finland's inclusion was likely based more on Mr Stubb's assertiveness than a country-wide effort.
There are other reasons why Finland finds itself in such an influential position, as Mr Stubb works to keep what he calls 'Team Europe' and the US united over Ukraine.
It boasts a fearsome military forged over decades living in Russia's shadow, and has long been a go-between between Russia and the US.
Its 800-mile border with Russia is a headache for Putin because it is now a Nato border.
Sources have told Finnish media that Helsinki is also ready to play its part in protecting a final peace deal in Ukraine. While that could involve Finnish troops, it is more likely to involve logistics and training.
Nikolai Sokov, a former Soviet and Russian arms-control negotiator, told The Telegraph that Finland's emergence as a major player in Europe centres around its admission to Nato.
He said, 'Russia will need to contend with a much longer border with Nato and especially with the extreme vulnerability of the Kola Peninsula.
'The Baltic Sea will remain a major tension point with high risk of conflict, like West Berlin in the '50s, early '60s.'
Mr Arnold added Finland certainly feels more confident projecting itself on the world stage since joining Nato.
'The process of joining Nato was complex and required a lot of focus. It has had to adapt to suddenly being in this alliance, being a really key player already, instantly becoming a front-line state that shares a border with Russia,' he said. 'It doesn't suit their interests to be in the middle of the pack.'
Mr Arnold, however, also noted that Mr Trump's style of diplomacy hinges on personal relationships, meaning Europe has been forced to adapt its approach to US relations. 'Whoever gets on with Trump – get them in a room with him to manage him,' he added.
In the meantime, Finland's president will use all of his influence to turn Mr Trump's ire away from Mr Zelensky and towards Putin.
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