Nordic call to Putin opens rift in Europe on Ukraine

Denmark has criticized Finland and Norway for reopening dialogue with Moscow as Kiev’s European backers struggle to agree on diplomacy

A phone call with the leaders of Finland and Norway’s with Russian President Vladimir Putin has exposed divisions among Ukraine’s European backers. Denmark criticized the initiative and Sweden complained that it had received no advance notice.

Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store contacted Putin on Tuesday ahead of renewed Russia-US-Ukraine peace talks in Abu Dhabi next month. The leaders discussed efforts to resolve the conflict, as well as security and stability in Northern Europe and the Baltic Sea.

Most Western European leaders have shunned direct contact with Moscow since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, but now appear to be desperately seeking a seat at the negotiations table. Both Stubb and Store have been named as potential candidates to represent Brussels at the talks, but neither spoke on Europe’s behalf during Tuesday’s call.

Following the conversation, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen accused her Nordic colleagues of breaking ranks, saying she was “very skeptical about this Norwegian-Finnish initiative” because it had “not been coordinated with the rest of us.”

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Frederiksen said Europe should stick together rather than go solo, doubting anything can be achieved through unilateral contacts with Moscow.

Her opposition to the diplomatic initiative comes as Copenhagen is backing Kiev’s efforts to expand its weapons production to Danish soil. Ukrainian arms manufacturer Fire Point plans to build a missile-fuel factory in Denmark.

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson also lamented that he had not been informed of the call to Putin beforehand and said he had “pretty low expectations for this kind of conversation.”

Western leaders have repeatedly faced backlash for contacting Putin or advocating direct talks with Moscow. Earlier this year, Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever sparked a wave of backlash from his colleagues after arguing that Europe’s strategy of arming Kiev and sanctioning Russia had failed, leaving negotiations as the only viable option.

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His comments elicited an immediate retort by EU Foreign Policy chief Kaja Kallas, who has consistently dragged the bloc down the warpath with Russia. She argued that normalizing ties with Moscow would lead to “more wars.” De Wever’s own foreign minister also described the move as “a signal of weakness.”

In 2024, then-German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was also accused of opening a “Pandora’s box” by calling Putin, with Estonia and other Baltic states decrying contacts with Moscow a “strategic mistake.”

Russian officials have repeatedly accused European governments of prolonging the conflict and obstructing a settlement while demanding a place at the negotiating table. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in March that the EU had “completely discredited itself” as a mediator, citing its failure to uphold previous agreements and its support for deploying Western troops in Ukraine.

Moscow has nevertheless expressed willingness to engage with a European representative committed to negotiations. On Sunday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a negotiator from Brussels would be welcome, but stressed that such a person would need to be “someone genuinely committed to facilitating a peaceful settlement.”