HELSINKI, Oct 27 (Reuters) – Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere held phone calls on Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin followed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The call with Putin related to upcoming meetings in Abu Dhabi, Stubb’s office said. Zelenskiy said on Friday that negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the US had agreed to technical-level meetings there in early November.
Western European leaders have mostly shunned contact with Putin since Russia launched its full-scale war in Ukraine in February 2022. Moscow has frequently accused European governments of stoking the war by arming Ukraine and refusing direct talks.
Stubb said in a statement on his conversation with Putin: “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 broader European security. Ending the war requires direct discussions.”
Zelenskiy’s aide told reporters in a WhatsApp chat that the president had spoken with Stubb and Stoere afterwards.
Russia has contrasted the stance of Western European leaders with that of US President Donald Trump, who has engaged with Putin and tried – so far without success – to broker a peace agreement.
Stubb and Stoere participated in the call as leaders of their respective countries and did not speak on behalf of Europe as a whole, they said, adding that the two Nordic nations will continue their longstanding support for Ukraine.
Stoere and Stubb met US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Zelenskiy in Oslo last week, a day before Witkoff met Putin in St Petersburg.
The Kremlin said after the Putin-Witkoff talks that Russia was willing to resume US-mediated peace talks with Ukraine in November, for the first time since February.
(Reporting by Essi Lehto and Mark Trevelyan, editing by Louise Rasmussen, Terje Solsvik, Alexandra Hudson)
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