Finnish president Stubb joins list of EU leaders seeking to tame Putin, in a 90-minute Kremlin phone call that caused a rift with Denmark

by · EUobserver

Norway’s prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre (l) welcomes Finnish president Alexander Stubb during a meeting in Oslo on 20 October 2026 (Source: EPA/CORNELIUS POPPE)

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By Andrew Rettman,

Finland’s president has caused a minor EU diplomatic fiasco by phoning Russian president Vladimir Putin out of the blue.

Finland’s Alexander Stubb sat down together with Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre in Helsinki on Tuesday (27 October) and “initiated” the call to Putin, in what was already a submissive gesture in protocol terms.

Their discussion lasted 90 minutes and was “frank and substantive” Stubb’s readout said, while Støre said he had “stressed the importance of de-escalation”.

But Putin told them he would make zero concessions, for instance on Ukrainian territories he claims are now Russian.

Putin “assessed the current situation in the Ukraine conflict zone, reiterating its root causes and emphasising that a just and lasting peace would be possible only if the interests of the Russian Federation are considered in full and without any conditions attached”, the Kremlin readout said.

Putin also belittled them by saying “the EU and Nato’s confrontational policies … result in prolonging the hostilities”.

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Norway’s prime minister Jonas Gahr Støre (l) welcomes Finnish president Alexander Stubb during a meeting in Oslo on 20 October 2026 (Source: EPA/CORNELIUS POPPE)

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Author Bio

Andrew Rettman is EUobserver’s foreign editor, writing about foreign and security issues since 2005. He is Polish, but grew up in the UK, and lives in Brussels. He has also written for The Guardian, The Times of London, and Intelligence Online.

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