‘Putin Doesn’t Want Peace’

Estonia’s president on Russia, Ukraine, NATO, drones, and Trump.

Donald Trump, Melania Trump, and Alar Karis stand side by side. October 29, 2025, 3:53 PM Comment icon View Comments ( )

When Estonian President Alar Karis found himself sitting with U.S. President Donald Trump during Pope Francis’s funeral at the Vatican earlier this year, the Russia-Ukraine war and Trump’s efforts to end it were a natural topic of conversation.

“It was in April, and he said: ‘We are close to peace, we are close to the end of the war,’” Karis recounted during an interview with Foreign Policy in New York on Oct. 24. “Now, it’s October.”

When Estonian President Alar Karis found himself sitting with U.S. President Donald Trump during Pope Francis’s funeral at the Va

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