“The leaders of Finland and Norway called russian president vladimir putin on Tuesday to urge him to end the war in Ukraine, breaking a long-standing practice among Western European leaders of avoiding direct contact with the kremlin”, - Reuters reported on October 27.
The publication notes that the phone call between Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre was an attempt to influence the diplomatic process at a time when U.S. President Trump had shifted his position in favor of russia, and U.S. ties with Ukraine had reached their lowest point in 18 months.
The Scandinavian leaders spoke by phone with putin and later with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, according to an aide to Zelensky. Both leaders emphasized their firm support for Ukraine, which they said would continue.
A source close to the kremlin told Reuters that French President Macron was the last EU leader to speak with putin by phone. The conversation, which took place in July this year, was not disclosed publicly and yielded no results, according to the source.
The source said putin told Stubb and Støre that russia would not compromise on its goal of seizing the entire Ukrainian region of Donbas. The Europeans responded that a “just” peace was needed, the source noted.