Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre spoke by phone with Vladimir Putin. Western leaders initiated the call to discuss Russia’s war against Ukraine and diplomatic efforts to end it.

The Finnish president’s office said the call was meant “to convey messages directly regarding future negotiations to help to end the war to President Putin” ahead of meetings to be held in Abu Dhabi. It was Putin’s first contact with European leaders supporting Ukraine since July 2025, when he spoke with French President Emmanuel Macron.

The Kremlin confirmed the call, saying Putin “assessed the current situation” in Ukraine and reminded participants of the “root causes of the conflict.” Putin also pointed to the “confrontational policy of EU and NATO countries, which is prolonging the fighting,” the Kremlin’s press service said.

Volodymyr Zelensky said Stubb and Støre briefed him on their call with Putin. “Alex and Jonas made it clear to the Russian leader that real de-escalatory steps are needed regarding our energy and infrastructure,” Zelensky said. He added that the Finnish and Norwegian leaders had discussed preparations for a trilateral meeting between negotiating teams from Ukraine, the United States, and Russia.

Stubb’s office said the call “was a follow-up of the meeting in Oslo on October 20 and held in consultation with Ukraine.” The Norwegian capital hosted talks that day between Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Zelensky, with Støre and Stubb also taking part. Witkoff then traveled to St. Petersburg to meet with Putin before returning to Oslo and flying home to the United States.

Those trips produced an agreement on a trilateral meeting between the United States, Ukraine, and Russia, to be held in Abu Dhabi. The meeting will take place after November 4, Putin aide Yuri Ushakov said. The day before, on November 3, the United States will hold midterm elections in which Republicans could lose their congressional majority.

Announcing the timing, Ushakov said the peace talks would also have to involve “all of Europe.” Europe has long sought a negotiator to represent the European Union’s interests in talks on ending the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Stubb has repeatedly been named as a candidate for the role, having built a good relationship with Trump, including on the golf course, and emerged as one of Trump’s main points of contact with European leaders. The Telegraph has also named Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and Czech President Petr Pavel among the candidates.

After Stubb and Støre’s call with Putin, Frederiksen criticized the initiative, saying she was “skeptical” and that the talks had not been coordinated with other European leaders. She added that she sees no sign that Russia wants peace with Europe, either in the hybrid war that continues every day or in Ukraine.

The independent Russian political newsletter Faridaily says contacts between European leaders and the Kremlin amount to “a significant shift in position.” European leaders had “mostly preferred not to talk to Putin at all” since the war began.

However, a source close to the Kremlin said that “events are moving toward escalation, including an intensification of hybrid warfare with Europe.” According to the source, Putin is convinced NATO is waging a hybrid war against Russia and blames Ukraine’s European allies for “comprehensive assistance” in attacks on Russia, including helping identify targets and guide strikes.

A source close to the Kremlin told Reuters that Putin told Stubb and Støre that Russia would not abandon its goal of capturing all of the Donbas. The European leaders responded that a “just” peace was necessary, the source added.

The war in photographs. The Lithuania–Russia border