Vladimir Putin devoted much of the telephone conversation with Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre to medieval Slavic history, the Financial Times reports. According to three sources of the British newspaper, the ceasefire in Ukraine was minimally affected, although it was the war and the possibilities for peace negotiations that were at the heart of the conversation.
The conversation took place on October 27 from Helsinki and was initially planned to last less than 30 minutes. In the end, it lasted about 90 minutes. According to the Financial Times, Putin used most of the time to present his interpretation of the history of the Slavic peoples and what the Kremlin defines as the “root causes of the conflict“.
One of the sources of the publication claims that Stubb and Støre did not interrupt the Russian president to assess the extent to which Moscow was ready for a real dialogue with Europe. The conversation did not lead to a publicly announced breakthrough on the issue of the cessation of hostilities.
Kremlin puts Russian interests as a condition
According to the Kremlin statement, Putin stated that a sustainable and fair peace agreement is possible only if Russia's interests are taken into account “fully and unconditionally”. Moscow has again accused the European Union and NATO of pursuing a confrontational policy that, according to the Russian side, is prolonging the hostilities.
Finnish President Alexander Stubb described the conversation as “frank and substantive“. He said that Finland and Norway are neighboring countries of Russia and that the outcome of the war will have a direct impact on European security. “Ending the war requires direct talks,“ Stubb said.
Jonas Gahr Støre said that he had stressed the need for de-escalation. After the conversation with Putin, the two Nordic leaders also had a telephone conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to inform him of what was discussed.
The conversation before the expected negotiations
The initiative of Stubb and Støre is related to the peace talks planned between Russia, Ukraine and the United States in Abu Dhabi in November. This is Putin's first direct contact with leaders of European countries supporting Ukraine in more than a year, the Financial Times reports.
Sources: ft.com, investing.com, abc.net.au