Finland’s president and Norway’s prime minister have held a rare direct discussion with Russian President Vladimir Putin about ending the war in Ukraine. The Finland Putin call lasted 90 minutes and took place on Tuesday, October 27.
President Alexander Stubb and Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store described the discussion as frank and substantive. It was a rare break from the pattern of recent years, in which most Western European leaders have avoided direct contact with Putin since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“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 in a joint statement with Store. The two leaders stressed that they were speaking only for their own countries, not on behalf of Europe.
How the Finland Putin call came about
The idea for the call grew out of a meeting in Oslo on October 20. Store, Stubb and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met there with United States envoy Steve Witkoff. US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, joined that meeting remotely.
After the Oslo talks, Witkoff travelled to Saint Petersburg to meet Putin. Stubb said both the Americans and the Ukrainians thought it would be a good idea for the Nordic leaders to reach out, and that Ukraine had wished for them to help open a channel of communication. The call was held in consultation with Ukraine, the joint statement said.
Store told reporters in Helsinki that the call had highlighted big differences in views on Ukraine. The Kremlin, in its own statement, said Putin had stressed that the policies of the European Union and NATO were leading to a longer war. It said the three leaders had agreed to keep direct contact by telephone.
A sceptical response from Denmark
Not every European leader welcomed the move. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, who was also in Helsinki for a meeting of Nordic leaders, said the initiative had gone solo and had not been coordinated with the rest of Europe.
“I am very sceptical about this Norwegian and Finnish initiative. It hasn’t been coordinated with any of the rest of us,” she told reporters. “I honestly don’t know what those two countries think they can achieve with this.”
Store rejected the criticism. “In the times we live in, it cannot be that only the US administration has a channel to talk to the Russian leadership. European countries must be able to do that as well,” he said.
Shortly after the call was announced, Kyiv said Zelensky had spoken to the Nordic leaders about the conversation. Zelensky later said the two leaders had told Putin that real steps were needed to de-escalate attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector and infrastructure.
Why the timing matters
The call comes ahead of trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States planned for Abu Dhabi in early November. Those talks are expected to cover security guarantees and the shape of a possible settlement. The Nordic leaders said their call aimed to convey messages about those negotiations directly to Putin.
The timing also reflects strain between the United States and Ukraine. Relations were stretched again this month after Trump announced a deal with Russia to obtain diesel, and after Washington waived sanctions against Moscow. Kyiv reacted with dismay to both moves, and the Oslo meeting followed urgent diplomatic efforts in Washington, Kyiv and European capitals to calm the situation.
For Pakistan, the episode connects to a separate diplomatic track. Feature Pakistan reported on Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s talks with Putin during his Russia visit, showing that direct contact with Moscow has also been part of Islamabad’s diplomacy. The Nordic call is different in one respect: it was made by two countries that share borders and history with Russia, and that say the war’s outcome will shape their own security directly.
What happens next
The test of the call will come in Abu Dhabi. If the November talks produce movement on de-escalation, the Nordic leaders can argue that their channel helped. If the talks stall and attacks on energy infrastructure continue, critics like Frederiksen will argue that the solo call achieved little and weakened European unity.
