Nordic Leaders Hold a Rare Joint Call With Putin
The president of Finland and the prime minister of Norway spoke to President Putin for ninety minutes from Helsinki, in a call they initiated to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. Norway’s leader said it showed “big differences in views”. Afterwards Putin blamed “confrontational” European and Nato policies for prolonging the war.
What makes this notable is who placed the call. Finland and Norway both border Russia, both joined Nato since the invasion, and direct contact between European leaders and the Kremlin has been close to frozen; their offices say the purpose was to look at “future negotiations to help to end the war” and the diplomatic effort to “promote peace and stability in Europe”. The careful wording on both sides tells you how little was agreed: “big differences in views” from Oslo, and from Moscow a statement blaming the other party’s posture for the war continuing. Ukraine’s president spoke to both leaders afterwards and thanked them for their “active support”, which is the detail that matters most — this was not negotiation over Kyiv’s head. It lands the same day as a local truce holding in the south, brokered through an unusual channel, and a week after Kyiv said a three-way meeting with Washington and Moscow would happen in November, now reported for Abu Dhabi. Denmark’s prime minister called the Nordic initiative one she was “very sceptical” of, and said it “was not agreed with any of us”.