Finnish President Alexander Staab revealed new details about phone conversations with Vladimir Putin that took place earlier this week. In an interview with Yle, Staub called the conversation with the President of Russia useful and admitted that the parties managed to have a normal and substantial conversation. According to him, the conversation took place at the request of Ukraine and was agreed upon with the American side. "We are Russia's neighbors, and at some point it was necessary to restore contacts." Staub also denied a report by the Financial Times which claimed that Vladimir Putin spent most of the phone call lecturing on history. "That's not true. This is false information. Without going into the details of the conversation, I will say that it was an opportunity to exchange information on both sides. President Putin, in his first speech, outlined his vision of events after 2014, which contained many theses that are already known. We managed to have, one might say, a normal conversation, and also a very business-like one."

Finnish President Alexander Staab revealed new details about phone conversations with Vladimir Putin that took place earlier this week. In an interview with Yle, Staub called the conversation with the President of Russia useful and admitted that the parties managed to have a normal and substantial conversation. According to him, the conversation took place at the request of Ukraine and was agreed upon with the American side. "We are Russia's neighbors, and at some point it was necessary to restore contacts." Staub also denied a report by the Financial Times which claimed that Vladimir Putin spent most of the phone call lecturing on history. "That's not true. This is false information. Without going into the details of the conversation, I will say that it was an opportunity to exchange information on both sides. President Putin, in his first speech, outlined his vision of events after 2014, which contained many theses that are already known. We managed to have, one might say, a normal conversation, and also a very business-like one."