Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store called Putin on 27 October, the first European leaders to do so since Macron spoke with him in July 2025. The significance lies in who placed the call, whose interests they represented, and what they took into it.
The Mandate
Stubb and Store initiated the conversation after the 20 October meeting in Oslo with Zelensky and US envoy Steve Witkoff. Finland's presidency says they consulted Ukraine before calling. That distinction matters. Contact with Moscow over Russia's war must not let others decide Ukraine's future without Ukraine.
Helsinki was equally precise about their authority. They spoke for Finland and Norway, not for Europe as a whole. Both countries border Russia, and both have a direct stake in security in the Baltic Sea region and the High North. They made that regional interest clear to Putin. They are reliable supporters of Ukraine, but they acknowledged that two national leaders cannot claim a mandate from every European government.
What They Told Putin
The immediate purpose was to deliver messages directly ahead of planned contact-group meetings in Abu Dhabi. Stubb and Store pressed for negotiations to resume and for Russia's war to end. They also told Putin that Finland and Norway would maintain their long-term support for Ukraine. Store stressed the need to de-escalate, pointing to the immense human and material cost of the war.
Stubb described the discussion as frank and substantive. His point was blunt. Russia's neighbours will live with the security consequences, and ending the war requires direct talks. Having that conversation still leaves plenty of room to doubt Putin will act on it.
Russia's neighbours will live with the security consequences, and ending the war requires direct talks.
The Test
Stubb and Store are well placed to deliver a hard message. Their countries know the Russian border, support Ukraine materially and have no need to disguise their own security interests. But a call does not make the Kremlin ready to de-escalate. There is little reason to expect a breakthrough while Russia continues attacking Ukraine. The useful measure of this diplomatic effort is whether Moscow changes its conduct, regardless of whether Putin agrees to more talks.