Putin Gave a Lecture on the History of Medieval Slavs to the Leaders of Finland and Norway
Putin devoted the greater part of his ninety-minute conversation with Alexander Stubb and Jonas Gahr Støre to the history of Slavs in the Middle Ages. An immediate ceasefire in Ukraine was barely discussed, reports the Financial Times, citing three interlocutors familiar with the content of the discussion.
On October 27, Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre called Putin to discuss ending the war. This was his first contact with European leaders supporting Ukraine since July 2025 — more than a year.
However, instead of discussing the terms of a ceasefire, Putin delved into the history of Slavs in the Middle Ages. Three of the newspaper's interlocutors, familiar with the content of the conversation, said that he spoke at length about what the Kremlin calls the "root causes of the conflict."
According to them, the immediate ceasefire sought by Ukraine was practically not discussed.
Stubb and Støre deliberately did not interrupt Putin's historical digressions. According to one of the FT's interlocutors, they wanted to ascertain how serious he was about dialogue with Europe. Stubb told Finnish media that the call, instead of the planned less than 30 minutes, lasted ninety minutes.
Putin had already given a similar lecture to Donald Trump in Alaska in August 2025. And last week, he cited "the latest genetic research," which, he claimed, proves that Russians and Ukrainians are one people.
After the conversation with Stubb and Støre, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that, "apparently, nothing new was discussed." He called the call itself a manifestation of the Europeans' desire "to interfere in the negotiation process." According to Lavrov, the war will continue and most likely escalate.
The call took place at the initiative of Finland and Norway, in consultation with Ukraine. The leaders wanted to convey Ukraine's position to Putin before the upcoming talks in Abu Dhabi. Afterwards, they spoke with Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He reported that Stubb and Støre urged Putin to take real steps to de-escalate attacks on Ukrainian energy and infrastructure.
The initiative caused disagreements in Europe. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen criticized the call as not agreed upon with the others and stated that she saw no signs of Russia's desire to achieve peace. The office of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni noted that Europe had not yet agreed on who should represent it in the negotiations.
Stubb and Støre emphasized that they spoke with Putin on behalf of their countries, not all of Europe.
According to a Reuters source close to the Kremlin, Putin told them that Russia would not abandon its goal of seizing the entire Donbas. The European leaders replied that peace must be just.
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