The Kremlin call: How talking to Putin exposed Europe’s deepest rift over Ukraine

The Kremlin call: How talking to Putin exposed Europe’s deepest rift over Ukraine The leaders of Finland and Norway were slammed for reaching out to Russia — but Europe still can’t find a better way to influence Donald Trump’s peace talks. By TIM ROSS in Helsinki Photo-illustration by Mr.Nelson design for POLITICO Beneath the chandeliers and oil paintings of his Presidential Palace, Finland’s president Alexander Stubb sat down next to his old friend Jonas Gahr Støre, the Norwegian prime minister, to call Vladimir Putin. They hoped such a dramatic and direct intervention with Russia’s leader would demonstrate European resolve. Instead, the conversation on a damp autumn morning in Helsinki triggered the biggest rift among Nordic allies since Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine — and exposed Europe’s wider divisions over how to deal with Moscow at a pivotal moment in the push for peace. Advertisement As Russian and Ukrainian negotiators prepare for talks with Donald Trump’s envoys in Abu Dhabi this week, the fallout from the call is still reverberating across Europe. Governments are arguing over who should represent Europe in future negotiations and remain divided over a question at the heart of the debate: Does engaging Putin help deliver peace, or simply reward aggression? Underlying European anxiety is another dilemma: Can America be trusted to broker a fair deal for them and most of all for Ukraine? EU leaders will grapple with these questions at an informal summit in Dublin this week. Few involved expect them to agree. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump in New York, on Sept. 22, 2026. | Brendan Smialowski / AFP via Getty Images In an interview with POLITICO in Oslo, Støre explained why he and Stubb decided to call a leader waging hybrid warfare on Europe and killing Ukrainian civilians with daily drone and missile strikes. “We work closely with our European partners in supporting Ukraine, but the only voice reaching Moscow comes from Washington,” Støre said. “And you know, we have good and open relations with the American negotiators, with the American administration, but this [war] happens in Europe. And living month by month, thinking that this war will end by Europe not talking to Moscow, I think, is an illusion.” Other countries sharing a border — and a history — with Putin’s Russia profoundly disagree. Advertisement “Europe should not be in a mediator’s position,” Estonia’s Prime Minister Kristen Michal told POLITICO in another interview. “You should not take the role of trying to please the dictator.” Based on interviews with politicians, diplomats and officials, many granted anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, this is the inside story of a phone call that shook Europe. The Trump shock Europe has struggled for influence over the stop-start Ukraine peace process ever since Trump returned to the White House in early 2025, promptly picked up the phone to Putin and ended U.S. financial assistance to Kyiv. Trump’s interventions shattered the transatlantic consensus built under his predecessor Joe Biden, offering Putin the prospect of an advantageous ceasefire and a return to the international fold. The U.S.-Iran war this year interrupted momentum but Trump returned to the topic of Ukraine again in October, criticizing President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for continuing to attack Russian energy infrastructure, while declaring that Putin’s side had been “fine”. Advertisement Fearing the negotiations were drifting toward collapse, Stubb and Støre intervened. Støre hosted Zelenskyy and Trump envoy Steve Witkoff in Oslo in an attempt to repair relations. Stubb, who also attended, declared the meeting on Oct. 20 had put the peace process “back on track.” But 24 hours later, Witkoff again stunned European leaders by meeting Putin in St. Petersburg and praising him as a “humanitarian.” After consulting Zelenskyy, the two Nordic leaders concluded they could not leave