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Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre initiated a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday to address diplomatic steps toward ending Russia’s war against Ukraine. The call followed a meeting the pair held in Oslo on October 20 with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and a US special envoy and took place in consultation with Ukrainian officials. The Finnish president’s office stated that the discussion aimed to convey messages about upcoming negotiations and to promote peace and stability across Europe.
Stubb described the exchange as frank and substantive in the joint statement released after the call. “The discussion was frank and substantive. We are neighbouring countries to Russia. 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 according to the statement. Støre noted the conflict’s heavy toll adding that the war comes with enormous human and material costs the suffering and destruction will impact generations and that the leaders stressed the importance of de-escalation during the conversation.
Both leaders reaffirmed their nations’ longstanding support for Ukraine while underlining that the war must end and that negotiations should resume according to the statement from the Finnish president’s office. The outreach represents a break with the recent pattern among many Western European leaders of avoiding direct contact with the Kremlin a stance that had held since French President Emmanuel Macron’s last call with Putin in July 2025 according to a Reuters report. The conversation also touched on security and stability in the Baltic Sea and High North regions the Kremlin readout indicated.
The Kremlin confirmed the call took place and said Putin emphasised that a just and long-term peace required the full and unconditional consideration of Russia’s legitimate interests. Russian officials drew attention to what they called the confrontational policies of EU and NATO countries which they argued were prolonging the conflict the Kremlin statement added. The three leaders agreed to maintain direct contact by phone in the future according to the Russian account and the Finnish side noted the participants acted only as representatives of their own countries.
Stubb and Støre briefed Zelenskiy by phone immediately afterward an adviser to the Ukrainian president confirmed. Zelenskiy stated that the Nordic leaders had clearly told Putin real de-escalation steps were needed regarding Ukraine’s energy sector and infrastructure. The initiative coincides with US President Donald Trump’s push for a peace agreement and precedes trilateral talks involving Russia Ukraine and the United States scheduled for Abu Dhabi next month Bloomberg News reported.
The conflict that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022 has lasted more than four years and produced verified civilian deaths exceeding 16 000 according to data compiled by the Cost of War project drawing on United Nations monitoring mission figures. A collaborative assessment by the World Bank Group the Government of Ukraine the European Commission and the United Nations placed Ukraine’s recovery and reconstruction needs at almost 588 billion dollars as of the end of 2025. The leaders noted that the war’s outcome would shape security across the High North and Baltic regions a point highlighted in their statement.
