Ukraine Warupdated 57m ago2 min read
Putin Holds Phone Talks With Finland’s Stubb and Norway’s Støre on Ukraine Negotiations
“The Kremlin said Putin ‘reiterated the root causes’ of his decision to order the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.”
“Ending the war requires direct discussions”
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Stubb and Støre spoke with Putin by phone. Call followed Oslo's October 20 meeting and Ukraine's consultation.
Nordic leaders call Putin
Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre held a phone call with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin to discuss possible negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. Dmytro Lytvyn, an adviser to the Ukrainian president, said, “They are talking,” as Zelensky spoke by phone with the Finnish and Norwegian leaders after their call with Putin. Stubb and Støre said the call was a follow-up to the Oslo meeting and that they took the initiative themselves to work for peace and stability in Europe.
“‘They are talking,’ said to journalists an adviser to the Ukrainian president, Dmytro Lytvyn.”
Stubb said, “The outcome of this war will have direct consequences on our security and, more broadly, on that of Europe,” and he added that ending the war requires direct discussions. Støre said the war causes enormous human and material losses and told journalists, “During this phone call, we underscored the importance of de-escalation.”
Messages, de-escalation, and NATO
The Finnish and Norwegian leaders said they spoke in their own names, not on behalf of Europeans as a whole, and they said the discussion took place after consultation with Ukraine. Stubb told journalists, “The discussion was open and substantively solid,” and he stressed that “Ending the war requires direct talks,” as he described the call’s purpose. Støre said, “The suffering and destruction will affect entire generations,” and he added that the leaders emphasized de-escalation during the telephone conversation.
The Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov confirmed the call, which had not been publicly announced by either side beforehand, and RTBF reported that Putin denounced the EU and NATO’s “policy of confrontation” during the call. RTBF said the Kremlin also stated that Putin agreed to continue direct contacts by phone, while the call’s Nordic participants emphasized de-escalation and negotiations to end the war.
Abu Dhabi talks and Europe
The phone call came after Stubb and Støre welcomed Zelensky in Oslo, where Zelensky met American emissaries Steve Witkoff and, remotely, Jared Kushner to discuss a way out of the conflict in Ukraine.
“The negotiations under U.S. mediation are to take place in November in Abu Dhabi.”
Witkoff later went to Saint Petersburg for a meeting with Putin, and the sources said an agreement was reached to resume trilateral talks with Russians, Ukrainians, and Americans.
DIE WELT said the negotiations under U.S. mediation are to take place in November in Abu Dhabi, while it also said there is no exact date for the talks yet.
POLITICO.eu said the planned meetings in Abu Dhabi are “next month,” and it described the call as a follow-up to talks in Oslo on Oct. 20.
As the Nordic leaders pressed for negotiations, the Guardian said the pair briefed Zelensky after the call and quoted Støre saying, “In the call we stressed the importance of de-escalation,” while the Kremlin readout emphasized that Putin “recalled the root causes” of his decision to order the full-scale invasion.