RING RING, MOSCOW! Finland’s President Alexander Stubb and Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre held a joint call with Vladimir Putin, rare direct contact between the Russian leader and European heads of government, the BBC reported.
The 90-minute call, held from Helsinki, was meant to “convey messages directly regarding future negotiations” on ending the war in Ukraine. “It will not be achieved through silence,” Stubb said. He called the talk “frank and substantive.” Støre admitted there were “big differences in views.”
Putin didn’t budge. The Kremlin said he told them a “just and lasting peace” requires Russia’s “legal interests” be taken into account “fully and unconditionally,” and he repeated his line about the “root causes” of the war. All three reportedly agreed to keep talking by phone.
Stubb says the call was prepared with Ukraine and the US after a meeting in Oslo last week with Volodymyr Zelensky and US envoy Steve Witkoff. Zelensky says he was debriefed afterward. The first US-Ukraine-Russia talks of the year are tentatively planned for early November in Abu Dhabi.
Not all of Europe loved the freelancing. Denmark and Sweden said they weren’t consulted, and Sweden’s Ulf Kristersson said “Europe should stick together rather than going solo.” Stubb and Støre are the first European leaders to call Putin since Emmanuel Macron in July 2025.
Featured image: AI-generated editorial illustration by Bugle Blast.
Sources: BBC News
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