Two Europeans called Putin, to no avail. But then the other Europeans got into a row with them

Brussels. The first telephone call between two European leaders and Vladimir Putin since July 2025 to discuss Ukraine ended just like all the previous ones. Not only did the Russian leader give no indication whatsoever that he was open to peace, but he also reiterated all the objectives of the invasion. The President of Finland, Alexander Stubb, and the Prime Minister of Norway, Jonas Gahr Store, took the initiative to call Putin to ‘convey messages directly regarding future negotiations’. Behind the scenes, some diplomats explain that the message is aimed primarily at Donald Trump: the Europeans must demonstrate once again that Putin does not want peace. But the main outcome of the phone call was to create tensions amongst Ukraine’s European allies, both those calling for a single envoy to negotiate on everyone’s behalf and those convinced that the Russian leader will make no concessions.

During their telephone call with Putin, Stubb and Store felt emboldened by the talks they had hosted the previous week between Volodymyr Zelensky and Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Following the latter’s meeting with Putin in St Petersburg, Russia agreed to resume technical negotiations in Abu Dhabi. The discussion between Stubb, Store and Putin was “frank and substantive”, the Finnish presidency reported. However, the Kremlin’s response is the same one that has been repeated by Putin or his spokespeople since the day of the invasion. The Russian leader reiterated “the root causes” of the war and emphasised “that a just and lasting peace will only be possible if the interests of the Russian Federation are taken fully into account and without any conditions”, according to the Kremlin’s account. Putin also accused the EU and NATO of “contributing to the prolongation of hostilities”.

French President Emmanuel Macron was the last European leader to call Putin in July 2025 to discuss Ukraine. To no avail. The same thing happened yesterday. Following the phone call, a Kremlin source told Reuters that Putin had sent a clear message to Stubb and Store: Russia will not stop until it has taken control of the entire Donbas region, including the part it has not been able to conquer by force. But the root causes of the war and the interests of the Russian Federation – as Putin sees them – extend far beyond the Donbas: they involve concessions from NATO, which should withdraw from its eastern borders. According to The Telegraph, Putin intends to reiterate a demand made prior to the invasion, as a condition for not launching the war against Ukraine: to roll back NATO’s presence in Europe to 1997 levels and to formally commit to not expanding the Alliance. This would mean a withdrawal of troops stationed in the European countries of the former Warsaw Pact (from the Baltic states to Romania), plus those in Finland (which joined NATO in 2023 in response to the invasion of Ukraine).

“There are major differences of opinion” with Putin, Store admitted whilst speaking to the Norwegian media. The phone call has also reopened the rift amongst Ukraine’s European allies over the strategy to adopt towards the Russian leader, despite Stubb and Store having made it clear that they were not speaking on behalf of Europe. Palazzo Chigi criticised the fact that “no agreement has yet been reached in Europe on who should represent the interests of the European continent in the peace process”. Giorgia Meloni reiterated the call to “designate, as soon as possible and by mutual agreement, one or more figures with a clear mandate to speak on behalf of Europe”. The Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, raised concerns regarding both method and, above all, substance. “I am very sceptical about this Norwegian and Finnish initiative. It has not been coordinated with any other country,” Frederiksen stated: “Honestly, I don’t know what these two countries think they can achieve with this initiative.” Whoever speaks to Putin always ends up getting the same response. “Peace must be achieved from a position of strength, not through appeasement of Russia,” explained the Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson: “If the talks lead to that, then they are a good thing. If we look at what Russia is doing on the ground every day, there is nothing to suggest that peace is what it is seeking. What it is seeking is submission.”

“The theatrical posturing continues,” an EU official tells Il Foglio, commenting on the initiative by Stubb and Store. The theatrics of the Finnish president and the Norwegian prime minister are aimed more at Donald Trump than at Putin. As has happened in the past, whenever the American president has sought to force Ukraine to capitulate, the Europeans have had to convince him that it is the Russian leader who does not want peace. Stubb explained that the phone call was organised “in consultation with Ukraine and the United States”. Zelensky thanked Stubb and Store for telling Putin that “genuine steps towards de-escalation are needed regarding our energy and infrastructure”. The Ukrainian president urgently needs Patriot interceptors, some of which have been held up for weeks due to the Pentagon’s inaction.