Vladimir Putin speaks with Norwegian and Finnish leaders in peace push

Finnish president Alexander Stubb and Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre spoke to Vladimir Putin on Tuesday as part of European efforts to back Ukraine in upcoming peace talks with Russia.The call was the first time Russia’s president had spoken to any of Ukraine’s European allies since July last year, when Putin held a call with French president Emmanuel Macron.In a joint statement, Stubb and Støre said they wanted to “convey messages directly regarding future negotiations to help end the war”, which are set for Abu Dhabi in November.The call was the first between Putin and European leaders since the EU this summer began discussing appointing a representative to negotiate directly with Moscow over an end to the war in Ukraine.READ MOREThat prospect has stalled over internal divisions, as well as Putin’s reluctance to engage with Ukraine’s European allies. But the Kremlin has appeared to relax its stance since US special envoy Steve Witkoff met Putin in St Petersburg last week. It has said that any final peace deal would require Europe’s input.Witkoff met Stubb, Støre and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy in Oslo a day before his trip to Russia.Stubb and Støre “took the call as leaders of their respective countries and did not speak on the behalf of Europe as a whole”, said the joint statement.US envoy Steve Witkoff meeting Russian president Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg recently. Photograph: Gavriil Grigorov/Sputnik/AP “The discussion was frank and substantive. We are neighbouring countries to Russia. The outcome of this war will have a direct impact on our and the broader European security. Ending the war requires direct discussions,” Stubb said.There was pushback to Norway and Finland’s move to speak with Putin, however, from other countries in the region that argued Europe should unite in any dealings with Russia.Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen told public broadcaster DR: “I am very sceptical of this independent initiative by Norway and Finland. It has not been co-ordinated with any of the rest of us.[ Could a Melania Trump-brokered truce for Oleshky help end the Russia-Ukraine war?Opens in new window ]“I see no signs that Russia desires peace with Europe – neither in the hybrid warfare taking place every single day, nor in Ukraine, where they are launching fierce and aggressive attacks on a daily basis.“I believe we should keep Europe united, rather than going it alone,” she said.The office of Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni said she had “great respect” for Stubb and Støre but added: “Above all, this phone call makes one thing clear: Europe has yet to reach an agreement on who should represent its interests in the peace process.”Meloni’s office added: “Europe cannot afford to lose any more ground. It must decide who will represent it ... It cannot continue to act in a disorganised fashion, through frameworks that shift from week to week – lest it see its influence in the negotiations progressively diminish.”The planned US-brokered talks, the first between Ukraine and Russia since February, will be devoted to discussing future security guarantees following an end to the war.US president Donald Trump this month renewed his push to end the conflict when he struck a deal to import Russian diesel, paused new sanctions against Moscow’s energy exports and pressured Ukraine to stop drone strikes on Russia’s refineries.The US did not extract concessions in return from Russia, which has rejected Trump’s push for a moratorium on striking Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. But the US hopes the moves will encourage Putin to negotiate an end to his invasion, which he ordered in 2022.Stubb and Støre said their countries would continue to support Ukraine, and emphasised that “the war must end and negotiations resume”, according to the joint statement.But the Kremlin indicated Putin was not interested in stepping back from his hardline demands to end the war, which Ukraine has said would amount to capitulation.Putin “reminded [Stubb and Støre] about the initial reasons for the conflict”, the Kremlin said, a byword for Russia’s insistence that western countries and Ukraine’s drive to join Nato forced it to begin the war.The Russian president “stressed that a fair long-term peace settlement is possible only if Russia’s legal interests are taken into account fully and unconditionally”, and spoke out against “the confrontational policies of EU and Nato countries, which are drawing out the conflict”, the Kremlin said.[ ‘Whatever Trump and Putin agree, we’ll fight the invaders’: Inside the dugouts powering Ukraine’s drone warOpens in new window ]The three leaders also discussed security and maritime law in the Baltic and northern Europe, according to the Kremlin, in an apparent reference to European actions against Russia’s “shadow fleet” of oil tankers.The Finnish president and Norwegian prime minister held a phone call with Ukrainian president immediately after the talk with Putin.Stubb and Støre “made it clear to the Russian leader that real de-escalatory steps are needed regarding our energy and infrastructure”, the Ukrainian president wrote on X. Zelenskiy discussed the upcoming three-way talks with the Finnish president and Norwegian premier, he said.– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2026