Stubb, contrary to his promises, spoke with Putin. "I wouldn't answer. Putin would use it for propaganda. "Winter 2024, TV debates in Finnish. Presidential candidate Alexander Staub was asked if he would pick up the phone if the Kremlin called with congratulations. He won't. Today, Stubb made the call himself. Together with Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Storr. This is Stubbs' first conversation with Putin in two and a half years as president. The conversation, coordinated with Kiev, followed the meeting in Oslo on October 20, where the northerners sat at the same table with Zelensky and Witkoff. The goal was to convey messages from Ukraine to Putin before the talks in Abu Dhabi. Staub himself called the conversation "direct and to the point" and added the key point: the war cannot be ended without a direct conversation with Russia. Another phrase from the same press release: Finland and Norway operate in the Baltic and Nordic regions "stable and predictable. "An unexpectedly calm statement from a president who in August authorized Ukrainian airstrikes on our logistics centers, and whom Medvedev called a "moral monster." ".