Norway, Finland leaders hold ‘substantive’ talk with Putin

Helsinki

This undated photo shows smoke rising from a residential neighborhood in the Russian-occupied city of Oleshky in the Kherson region of Ukraine. (AP Photo)

Finland’s president and Norway’s prime minister held a “frank and substantive” discussion with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Oct. 27 about efforts to end the war in Ukraine, the Nordic leaders said.

“The outcome of this war will have a direct impact on our and the broader European security. Ending the war requires direct discussions”, President Alexander Stubb said in a joint statement with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store.

The statement noted that the call had been “held in consultation with Ukraine” and followed a meeting in Oslo on Oct. 20 between Store, Stubb and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky as well as U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner also took part in the meeting remotely.
After the Oslo talks, Witkoff travelled to Saint Petersburg to meet Putin.

Stubb and Store initiated Oct. 27's call to discuss “efforts to end the war and promote peace and stability in Europe,” their statement said.

“The war comes with enormous human and material costs. The suffering and destruction will impact generations. In the call we stressed the importance of de-escalation”, Store said.

Stubb described the discussion between the three as “frank and substantive.”

Shortly after the announcement of the call, Kiev said Zelensky had spoken to the Nordic leaders about the conversation with Putin.

Putin slammed EU and NATO countries in the phone call on with the leaders of Finland and Norway, saying their “confrontational” policy was dragging out the Ukraine war, the Kremlin said.

In the call, “attention was drawn to the confrontational policy of the EU and NATO countries, which is leading to a protraction of hostilities,” the Kremlin said in a statement, adding that the three leaders had “agreed to continue maintaining direct contact by telephone”.

The leaders of Finland and Norway stressed that they were representing their own countries and had not spoken on behalf of Europe, but Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen bemoaned that they had gone “solo.”

“I’m very sceptical about this Norwegian and Finnish initiative. It hasn’t been coordinated with any of the rest of us,” she told reporters while attending a meeting of Nordics leaders, including Store and Stubb, in Finland.

“I honestly don’t know what those two countries think they can achieve with this,” she said.

Relations between Ukraine and the United States have become strained again after Trump this month suddenly announced a deal with Russia for diesel, as part of his efforts to lower oil prices sent soaring by his Iran war.

Ukraine reacted with dismay after Trump also waived sanctions against Russia and appeared to again pivot to Putin.

The Oslo meeting followed furious diplomatic efforts in Washington, Kiev and Western capitals to calm the situation.

Norway and Finland, both NATO members, share borders with Russia and the statement emphasised that the countries are “firm supporters of Ukraine.”

Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine began observing a localized ceasefire in a devastated southern Ukrainian city on Oct. 27, before a planned humanitarian mission brokered by U.S. first lady Melania Trump, but Moscow kept up its deadly missile attacks on other cities in the meantime.

The local pause in fighting started at 3 a.m. to allow an aid mission into the Russia-occupied city of Oleshky later this week. The situation in Oleshky is desperate, with food and medical supplies running perilously low for the up to 2,000 people still there, as drones and land mines restrict movement.

Minutes after 3 a.m., multiple ballistic missile explosions shook Kiev and air alerts sounded in multiple parts of the country.