Finnish and Norwegian leaders call Putin ahead of planned Ukraine talks

Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre spoke jointly with Russian President Vladimir Putin from Helsinki on Tuesday, 27 October, in a rare direct exchange between European leaders and Moscow over the war in Ukraine.

The two leaders said they initiated the call after consulting Ukraine. It followed a meeting in Oslo on 20 October and was intended to convey messages to Putin about future negotiations. Finland and Norway both border Russia and have pledged to continue supporting Ukraine. Støre said they had stressed the need for de-escalation.

Stubb described the discussion as frank and substantive, but said later that Putin’s positions had held no surprises. According to a Kremlin account reported by Anadolu, Putin maintained that a lasting peace required full consideration of what Moscow calls its legitimate interests. The Kremlin also said the three leaders had agreed to remain in direct telephone contact.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke to Stubb and Støre afterwards. His office said he thanked them for the briefing and said they had urged Putin to take concrete steps to de-escalate attacks affecting Ukraine’s energy supplies and infrastructure. They also discussed preparations for planned talks in November involving Ukrainian, American and Russian teams in Abu Dhabi. Those talks are a proposed next step, not an outcome of Tuesday’s call.

Stubb and Støre said they spoke for their own countries, not for Europe as a whole. Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen criticised the call as not having been coordinated with other countries. Stubb said all Nordic countries had been informed beforehand, while Finnish broadcaster Yle, citing Dagens Nyheter, reported that Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he had not personally received advance notice. Advance notice and joint coordination are distinct questions.