FT: During Their Conversation With Putin, The Leaders Of Finland And Norway Had To Sit Through A “lecture” On History
- 28.10.2026, 8:59
Instead of discussing the details of the peace plan.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, during his first phone call with European leaders not only reiterated his demand for the complete surrender of Donbas to Russia, but also delivered yet another history lesson on the medieval Slavs. This was reported by the Financial Times.
During a conversation lasting an hour and a half with Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gar Støre, instead of discussing the most pressing issues regarding paths to a peaceful resolution in Ukraine, Putin unleashed a lengthy tirade on the representatives of the two Nordic countries about the so-called “root causes of the conflict.” According to sources, Stubb and Støre decided not to interrupt Putin’s historical monologue in order to gauge his willingness to engage in serious dialogue with Europe.
After the meeting, both European leaders stated that they had sought to convey messages to Putin regarding the upcoming negotiations on ending the war, which are tentatively scheduled to take place in November in the UAE. The politicians noted, however, that they were not speaking on behalf of all of Europe.
Earlier, a source close to the Kremlin told Reuters that during the conversation, the Russian president stated that his position remained unchanged: the entire Donbas—which the Russian Armed Forces have been unable to capture even after nearly five years of full-scale war—must come under Russian control. Stubb and Stere responded to Putin by saying that a “just” peace is needed in Ukraine, the agency’s source said.
The last European leader to attempt to speak with the Russian head of state was French President Emmanuel Macron. He called Putin in July 2025, but those talks came to nothing.
This is not the first time Putin has launched into lengthy ramblings about his version of history instead of discussing important issues. TV host Tucker Carlson complained that an interview with him in early 2024 turned into a lecture “historically justifying” Ukraine’s belonging to Moscow.
The same thing, according to informed sources cited by the FT, happened during Putin’s meeting with Donald Trump in Alaska in August 2025. According to them, his historical monologue—which mentioned the medieval princes Rurik and Yaroslav the Wise, as well as the 17th-century Cossack leader Bogdan Khmelnitsky— the Russian president concluded his historic monologue by demanding Ukraine’s surrender, which greatly angered Trump.