Nordic Leaders' Putin Call Exposes Rift Over Who Speaks For Europe

Finland's president, Alexander Stubb, and Norway's prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, spent 90 minutes on the phone with Vladimir Putin this week, drawing criticism from Denmark and Sweden that the outreach was not coordinated with European allies. The exchange exposed a disagreement across Europe over whether to engage the Kremlin directly and who holds the authority to do so.

Stubb and Støre said the conversation took place on Ukraine's behalf and that allies were notified beforehand. Denmark's prime minister, Mette Frederiksen, said she was "very sceptical about this independent initiative by Norway and Finland" and added, "I honestly don't know what they think they can achieve by this." Sweden's prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, said he had not been informed in advance. Arkady Moshes, who directs the Russia programme at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, called the rift serious by Nordic standards.

The call comes as European leaders have debated for months whether to appoint a single representative to negotiate directly with Moscow on ending the war in Ukraine, a discussion that has intensified as Donald Trump has moved closer to Moscow in recent weeks. A new round of peace talks is expected in Abu Dhabi next month, leaving European governments concerned about exclusion from negotiations that could affect the continent's security for decades.

A senior European diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said outreach to Putin "is starting to feel like a free-for-all" because "too many leaders believe they can be the one to get Putin to negotiate." British, French and German ambassadors have met Russian officials this year, Emmanuel Macron's senior diplomatic adviser has traveled to Moscow, and the office of European Council president, António Costa, has pursued its own engagement with the Kremlin.

Analysts attributed part of the fallout from the Stubb and Støre call to conflicting accounts of its purpose. The conversation was first presented as a way to convey Ukrainian messages to Putin, but Støre later cited the need to manage shared fish stocks in the Barents Sea and maintain security along the countries' common border. Stubb said the conversation was also meant to prevent misunderstandings between Russia and its Nordic neighbors. Joel Linnainmäki, a former Finnish diplomat and analyst in Helsinki, said the two leaders "can't seem to get their message straight on whether this was about Ukraine or also about their own security concerns."

Kristi Raik, director of ICDS, an Estonian thinktank, said European governments agree on supporting Ukraine but differ over when to reopen dialogue with Putin and who should lead it. France has long favored keeping a channel open, while Germany and Britain have been more cautious. The Baltic states and Kaja Kallas, the EU's foreign policy chief, have warned that renewed high-level contact could relieve pressure on Moscow without securing concessions.

No single figure currently holds a mandate to negotiate for the EU's 27 member states. Kallas could in theory take on that role, but she requires a mandate from member states and is viewed by Moscow as an unacceptable counterpart; Russia has placed her on a wanted list, and Russian officials have said they have little interest in engaging with her. Reiner van Lanschot, a Dutch member of the European Parliament, has called for an EU summit to agree on one representative, while acknowledging that any appointment could be blocked by a single member state.

The Kremlin's account of Tuesday's conversation gave no sign that Putin had softened his demands for ending the war. According to the Financial Times, Putin spent part of the call lecturing the Nordic leaders on medieval Slavic history, repeating arguments long used to question Ukraine's right to exist as an independent state. Moshes said Moscow's willingness to take the call should not be read as readiness to compromise, because "Putin's plan A is a military defeat of Ukraine."

Xavier Bettel, Luxembourg's foreign minister, said he faced criticism from European colleagues for maintaining telephone contact with Putin after Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022. "Some colleagues told me: who is the Luxembourgish prime minister to speak to the president of Russia and the president of Ukraine? You are such a small country," Bettel said at a conference in Prague in May.