Finland’s Stubb and Norway’s Støre called Putin on 27 October after meeting Zelensky and Witkoff, opening the way for planned trilateral US-Ukraine-Russia talks in Abu Dhabi in early November.

Trump is weighing sanctions relief, fertilizer imports and a Melania Trump-brokered Oleshky ceasefire as incentives, while Putin insisted any peace must fully meet Russian interests and faulted EU/NATO policies.

The article portrays the Nordic outreach as a humiliating European recalibration amid funding shortfalls for Kyiv and US suggestions to resume Russian energy imports.

The needle may not have moved on ending the Ukraine war but the joint phone call on October 27 by Finland’s President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre to Russian President Vladimir Putin can be regarded as a defining moment. The two Nordic leaders insisted that their initiative was taken solely in their capacity as neighbours of Russia rather than on behalf of Europe, but the fact remains that their initiative was borne out of their exclusive meeting in Oslo on October 20 with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US special envoy Stephen Witkoff.

Russian expert opinion is that it is unlikely that Oslo and Helsinki acted without the consent of Brussels [EU] and Kyiv. But no one is making an issue of the white lie. Clearly, European countries are attempting to re-establish direct communication channels with Russia. Entry of Finland and Norway in the negotiation process indicates that even Ukraine’s most vocal supporters are shifting their position in favor of dialogue with Russia. According to official data, Norway has provided Kyiv with nearly €17 billion in aid, while Finland has provided €5 billion.

On October 21, Witkoff flew into St. Petersburg from Oslo to transmit some fresh proposals on Ukraine in light of his discussions, which is........

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