Finland, Norway leaders call Putin ahead of Ukraine talks

Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre phoned Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026, the first such call from European leaders backing Ukraine since French President Emmanuel Macron’s in July 2025, the Moscow Times reported.

The call came as U.S.-mediated talks among Russian, Ukrainian and American officials are expected in Abu Dhabi as early as November, which would be the first round since February, ABC News Australia reported.

Stubb’s office said the leaders wanted to discuss “Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the diplomatic efforts to end the war,” according to the Moscow Times. Finland’s public broadcaster Yle reported that the aim was to give Putin a direct message about the coming negotiations. Both leaders stressed they spoke for their own countries, not for Europe as a whole.

“In the call we stressed the importance of de-escalation,” Støre’s office said, according to the Moscow Times. ABC reported that Stubb described the conversation as “frank and substantive” and said “ending the war requires direct discussions.” ABC put the length of the call at about 90 minutes. That figure was not in the other reports reviewed.

The Kremlin’s account suggested no change in Moscow’s position. It said Putin “reiterated the root causes” of the February 2022 invasion and criticized the “confrontational policies” of EU and NATO countries, which he said prolong the fighting, the Moscow Times reported. The Kremlin said the three discussed security and stability in the Baltic Sea region and Northern Europe, and agreed to stay in direct contact. ABC reported that the Kremlin readout said a lasting peace requires Russia’s “legitimate interests” to be taken into account.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he was “grateful for the detailed briefing” from the two leaders, the Moscow Times reported. He said they told Putin that concrete de-escalation steps were needed, especially an end to attacks on energy infrastructure before winter. The Moscow Times reported that the call was made in consultation with Ukraine.

Not all of Europe is comfortable with the approach. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she was “very skeptical” and that Europe should “speak with one voice,” the Moscow Times reported. Yle noted that Finland’s foreign minister, Elina Valtonen, said last year it was “not the time to phone Putin.”

The call follows a week of shuttle diplomacy. Stubb and Støre met U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff and Zelenskyy in Oslo, as Canada News Media reported on Oct. 20, and Witkoff later met Putin in St. Petersburg, the Moscow Times said. The Kremlin has said it is ready to resume talks, as we reported on Oct. 21, but no dates have been fixed. Europe’s push for a seat at the table was covered in our Oct. 23 report, and the doubts over Zelenskyy’s planned Brussels visit in a story on Oct. 27.

ABC reported that the outreach followed a reported shift by U.S. President Donald Trump toward Russia’s position, with U.S.-Ukraine relations at their lowest point in 18 months. Long-range strikes by both sides have increased this year while front lines have barely moved, ABC said.

For Canada, the main stake is the outcome of any settlement. Ottawa has said repeatedly that Ukraine must control decisions about its own sovereignty, a line Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand restated in December 2025, the Canadian Press reported at the time. Canada News Media found no Canadian government reaction to the Nordic call in the reports reviewed. About 1.3 million Canadians reported Ukrainian ancestry in the 2021 census, one of the largest Ukrainian communities outside Ukraine and Russia.

What happens next depends on whether the Abu Dhabi round is confirmed. No date or venue details have been published beyond “next month,” and the Kremlin has not signalled movement on its core demands. Via the Moscow Times, ABC News Australia and Yle.

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