Putin lectured the president of Finland and the prime minister of Norway about the history of the Slavs, the Financial Times writes. This happened on October 27, when Alexander Staab and Jonas Gahr Stora called the Russian president to discuss the upcoming negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. However, Vladimir Putin paid little attention to the issue, three people familiar with the conversation told the FT. Instead, the Russian president forced the leaders of Finland and Norway to listen to a speech on what the Kremlin considers the "root causes of the conflict." According to one of the sources, Staab and Stora decided not to interfere with Putin's historical retreats in order to understand how serious he is about dialogue with Europe. The Finnish Presidential Press Service previously reported that the purpose of the conversation was to "convey Ukraine's messages about the upcoming peace negotiations in Abu Dhabi directly to President Putin." US President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, met with Staub, Stora and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky in Oslo the day before his trip to Russia.