Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre held phone calls with…
Armed Conflict · · November, the
Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre held phone calls with Russian President Vladimir Putin and then Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday, Reuters reports. Stubb’s office said the call with Putin related to upcoming meetings in Abu Dhabi. Zelensky said Friday that negotiators from Ukraine, Russia and the U.S. agreed to hold technical level meetings there in early November.
Stubb said the Putin call was “frank and substantive,” adding “We are neighboring 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.” A Zelenskyy aide said the president spoke with both leaders afterward. The two said they took part as leaders of their own countries, not on behalf of Europe, and that Finland and Norway will continue supporting Ukraine.
The report from Reuters notes that Western European leaders have mostly avoided contact with Putin since he launched Russia's full scale invasion in February 2022. Stubb and Støre met U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff and Zelensky in Oslo last week, a day before Witkoff met Putin in St. Petersburg. The Kremlin said afterward that it was willing to resume U.S. mediated peace talks with Ukraine in November, the first since February.
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Source: @OSINTdefender
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