Source tells Vlast newsletter that Putin welcomed late-October call from Finland’s president and Norway’s prime minister as a possible start of substantive talks with Europe

Moscow “welcomed” a call to Vladimir Putin from Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, journalist Farida Rustamova reported in her newsletter Vlast. According to sources in the Kremlin, the call could mark the start of substantive talks with Europe.A source close to the Kremlin who is involved in the talks said Putin welcomed the call because he sees Norway and Finland as less hard-line toward Russia than major European countries such as Germany, France, and the United Kingdom.Finland and Norway want to establish a permanent, systematic process rather than just hold one-off meetings, the source said.Stubb and Støre called Putin on October 26. In the call, coordinated with Kyiv, they conveyed Ukraine’s position to the Russian president ahead of the resumption of talks. Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry later said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had asked them to convey, among other things, that he was ready to discuss “the territorial issue” at an in-person meeting with Putin.The Financial Times reported that Putin devoted most of the call with the Norwegian and Finnish leaders to “the history of the Slavs in the Middle Ages.” Støre publicly denied this and demanded that the newspaper correct the story, but it refused.The call by Stubb and Støre was the first contact between European leaders who support Ukraine and the Russian president since July 2025, when he spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron.At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.