At the end of May 2025, Vladimir Putin publicly accused Alexander Stubb of deception: he allegedly promised Donald Trump the supply of ships that could not be built in Finland. We checked whether the President of the Russian Federation is right.
On May 25, Russian Entrepreneurship Day, Vladimir Putin held a meeting with representatives of Russian business circles. The Russian President is on it stated: “We must proceed from reality. You just talked about your participation in the construction of nuclear icebreakers, including the Leader icebreaker, which has no analogue in the world. Nobody does this at all. Apparently, Mr. [Alexander] Stubb, the current President of Finland, told the United States that they would build nuclear icebreakers for the United States. Can they build at least one nuclear icebreaker, Finland today? <…> I also think it’s unlikely, of course. Nevertheless, he pushes his products. Already in the States they are saying: “We will build nuclear icebreakers in Finland.” What's there? Shipbuilding in Finland developed well at one time based on Soviet and Russian orders. But they have never built nuclear icebreakers, especially ones like Leader, and the one we are now commissioning. This is a completely separate topic, a technological school. There should be small nuclear reactors here, and in general the ship is completely different, the materials are appropriate, and so on. They simply don't have that experience. No, they are pushing it nonetheless. They are actually deceiving."
Putin's statement was quoted as saying "News", "Arguments and facts", "Komsomolskaya Pravda", "Gazeta.ru", Lenta.ru, "Regnum"and other Russian media. “Air sellers: Russia has uncovered Finland’s deception with nuclear icebreakers,” the publication presented the news under this headline.Pravda.ru"
In 2018, NBC News journalists wrotethat the American authorities, despite calls from experts, have paid insufficient attention to the US icebreaker fleet for years. The first significant efforts to increase it came during the presidency of Barack Obama and gained momentum already in the first term of Donald Trump. In the summer of 2020 he released memorandum in which ordered by the end of the decade, build an icebreaker fleet and bases to defend US interests in the Arctic and Antarctic. During his second term as President, on March 13, 2025, Trump statedthat the United States plans to order 48 new icebreakers. This, according to the politician, will help strengthen the US position in the Arctic, “because this whole region is becoming very important.”
A little over two weeks later, on March 29, Trump published on his social network Truth Social, a joint photo with Stubb, who flew to Florida on an unofficial visit. In the signature, the American president indicated that he had agreed with his Finnish colleague on the supply of icebreakers, but the post did not specify that the ships would be nuclear-powered:
"Just played a round of golf with Alexander Stubb, President of Finland. He's a very good player, and we won the men's team tournament at Trump International Golf Club in Palm Beach County with legendary [South African golfer] Gary Player, Senator Lindsey Graham and former congressman and successful television personality Trey Gowdy. President Stubb and I look forward to strengthening the partnership between the United States and Finland, which includes the purchase and development of a large number of desperately needed icebreakers for the United States, ensuring peace and international security for our countries and the entire planet. President Stubb told me in the strongest possible terms that the United States is STRONG and BACK IN SERVICE. I AGREE!"
However, the partnership between the United States and Finland in the field of icebreaker construction was known earlier. For example, on July 11, 2024, Stubb, previous US President Joe Biden and then-Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau released a joint statement on cooperation in the production of “best-in-class icebreakers.” Four months later, on November 11, the President of Finland spent telephone conversation with Trump, congratulated him on his victory in the recent elections and discussed with the American president-elect, including “icebreaking cooperation between Finland, the United States and Canada.” Neither the July statement nor the press releases about the November conversation specified that Finnish icebreakers would be nuclear-powered.
Reporting on the meeting between Trump and Stubb in March 2025, Reuters reportedthat Finland is the leading manufacturer of icebreakers in the world. According to the agency, about 80% of such ships are designed by Finnish companies, and about 60% of them are built in Finnish shipyards. Similar statistics shared The Wall Street Journal: “This northern country, with extensive experience in the Baltic Sea, has built and designed more icebreakers than any other state.” The article also quotes Stubb’s words: “What can Finland offer the United States? First, icebreakers. We build them faster than anyone in the world, and at about half the cost.”
Russia is also engaged in the construction of icebreakers and, really, controls the only one the world's nuclear-powered icebreaker fleet. In recent years, Rosatom has also led development of similar ships powered by liquefied natural gas (LNG). In 2021 reportedthat the state corporation plans to order the construction of several such icebreakers. At the same time, it was built in Finland back in 2016 Polaris is the world's first icebreaker equipped with dual-fuel engines that can use both low-sulfur marine diesel fuel and LNG.
Thus, Putin spread disinformation because Stubb never publicly promised Trump nuclear icebreakers. The statements of the Finnish and American presidents did not specify what kind of fuel the Finnish ships built for the United States would run on.
Cover photo: kremlin.ru / @realDonaldTrump (Truth Social) / collage “Verified”
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