Norway and Finland Leaders Hold Rare 90-Minute Call With Putin on Ukraine War

The leaders of Finland and Norway held a rare 90-minute phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, urging an end to the war in Ukraine. The conversation came ahead of a planned round of talks in Abu Dhabi next month, brokered by the United States, and broke with a longstanding Western European practice of avoiding direct contact with the Russian leader.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere took part. Stubb called the exchange "frank and substantive" and said that as neighbours of Russia, their countries would feel the effects of the war's outcome directly. "Ending the war requires direct discussions," he said. Stoere said the two had stressed the importance of de-escalation. Afterward, they also spoke by phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The call comes as Western European governments have been largely shut out of US-led negotiations. US President Donald Trump has increasingly sided with Putin over Zelenskyy, and told reporters on Tuesday that direct talks between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents would happen "very soon". Austrian analyst Gerhard Mangott said European governments had "manoeuvred themselves into a dead end" and that the call was an attempt to open a channel for dialogue.

Relations between Washington and Kyiv have fallen to their lowest point in 18 months, after Trump blamed Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy facilities for higher diesel prices in the United States, where the cost has doubled this year. Trump struck a deal with Putin to release Russian diesel stocks to the US and global markets despite sanctions on Russian oil, and waived newly approved US sanctions on Russia. That angered Europeans and many in his own Republican Party. Ukraine has also accused the US of restricting its access to Starshield, a military-grade satellite system that provides missile guidance intelligence.

Stubb said the call followed up on a meeting in Oslo on 20 October, involving US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Zelenskyy, and was prepared in consultation with Ukraine and the United States. He stressed that the two spoke in their individual capacities, not as representatives of Europe, and that their support for Ukraine "remains unwavering". He said Ukraine had sought a new channel, arguing Europe could not help peace efforts by giving Russia "the silent treatment". Stoere added that talking to the other side "does in no way mean that we take off the pressure".

The Kremlin's account suggested Putin held to a hard line. It said lasting peace was possible only if Russia's "legitimate interests" were fully and unconditionally taken into account, and it blamed the "confrontational policies of EU and NATO countries" for prolonging the fighting. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the call "constructive and substantive" but said Putin's position was well known and focused on addressing "root causes". Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said it offered "nothing new" and that Europeans simply wanted a role in negotiations.

On the prospect of a Putin-Zelenskyy meeting, presidential aide Yury Ushakov said "the current leader in Kyiv is not legitimate". He added that if Zelenskyy wanted direct talks, he should come to Moscow, where conditions including security would be provided.

Other European leaders responded with scepticism. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said he had "quite low expectations" and noted that some leaders had not been informed. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Europe should "stick together rather than going solo". Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he told Stubb and Stoere that "absolute caution and vigilance are necessary". Lithuanian Foreign Minister Kestutis Budrys said Europe must be at the table, "but not as a collection of fragmented voices", and that any contact with Russia needs a united position, real leverage and a list of European demands.