Putin Says Nordic Leaders Were Right to Call Him, Despite EU Criticism

Russian President Vladimir Putin defended Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre over their Oct. 27 telephone call with him, saying they were right to reach out despite criticism from other European leaders. Speaking at a press conference after the Russia-Africa summit on Thursday, Oct. 29, Putin confirmed that the conversation took place at the initiative of the Nordic leaders and covered a wide range of issues.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. “I know that criticism was later directed at them, but it is not for us to judge whether this is right or wrong. I believe it is right,” Putin said, according to Interfax-Ru. “After all, there are people in Europe who do not want to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, as some do, but want to establish some kind of constructive dialogue,” he added. The remarks came on the same day that the Kremlin ruled out European participation in the next month’s Abu Dhabi negotiations with Ukraine and the US. Dialogue offer paired with a warning Moscow, according to the Russian president, backs any effort to rebuild relations with Europe, whether with the EU as a bloc or individual countries. Russia has always supported steps toward restoring “full-format and full-fledged relations” with European states, he added. However, during the same remarks, Putin warned that a war between Russia and Europe would have “no winners,” claiming that the West had failed in its goal of inflicting a strategic defeat on Russia and was unlikely to achieve it by 2030, Russian-state owned media TASS reported. Other Topics of Interest Ukrainian Producer Oleg Kokhan: ‘The World Must See Ukraine Beyond War and Victimhood’ Ukrainian producer Oleg Kokhan on joining the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, decolonizing cinema, and the future of Ukraine’s film industry. The warning comes as European governments step up preparations for a possible confrontation. Germany’s elite KSK special forces began training for a role in conventional warfare with Russia, shifting away from its traditional focus on hostage rescue and counterterrorism, Brig. Gen. Andreas Kuhne told Germany’s BILD earlier this week. European countries are also facing a rise in hybrid warfare threats, including sabotage, espionage, cyberattacks and frequent drone incursions into their airspace. While some European leaders have described the situation as already amounting to a war, as the line between hybrid tactics and direct conflict continues to blur, others have been more cautious, refraining from such labels to avoid escalating tensions with Moscow. Mixed reaction from European leaders The abrupt discussion drew a mixed response from Ukraine’s European allies, particularly from other Nordic countries, who said the call was not coordinated with them in advance. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she was “very sceptical about this independent initiative by Norway and Finland,” Euronews reported, adding that Russia’s ongoing escalation against Ukraine remains evidence that “Moscow is not serious about diplomacy.” “We have previously emphasised, with clear backing from the rest of Europe, that when others have gone solo and, for example, travelled to Moscow, it is crucial that we, Europeans, stand together,” she continued, in a reference to former Hungary Prime Minister Viktor Orbán who flew to Russia to meet with Putin at the time of his tenure. Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson reiterated that she also has “pretty low expectations for this kind of [direct] talk.” Støre defended the call by saying Europe needs to speak with Russia, instead of only relying on messages mediated by the US administration, which has a different take on the war. The content of the call had also become a point of dispute. On Wednesday, Oct. 28, the Financial Times reported that Putin spent much of their 90-minute conversation discussing medieval history, while an immediate ceasefire was barely raised. Støre rejected the FT’s report, asking the newspaper to correct it. “That he gave a lecture on Slavic history is simply not correct,” he said, adding that the time was distributed relatively evenly between the participants. The newspaper has refused to issue a correction. The call came after a week of diplomacy involving the two Nordic leaders. On Oct. 20, they hosted a meeting between President Volodymyr Zelensky and senior US envoy Steve Witkoff for talks in Oslo, with US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, joining remotely. Witkoff then traveled to St. Petersburg for a direct meeting with Putin on Oct. 21, where he urged Putin to consider resuming trilateral talks with Ukraine and the US, bringing documents outlining approaches to ending the war. The Kremlin reiterated that a just and lasting peace in Ukraine was possible only if Russia’s interests were taken into account. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 90% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.