Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a lengthy lecture on medieval Slavic history to the leaders of Norway and Finland during an October 27 phone call, offering little mention of an immediate ceasefire despite renewed diplomatic efforts to end Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
According to three sources familiar with the call between Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, and the Russian president, Putin spent most of the 90-minute call to deliver a lengthy rant about Russian historical fixations.
The call, which was initially planned to last half an hour, comes ahead of trilateral peace talks expected in the Emirati capital of Abu Dhabi sometime in November between Ukraine, Russia, and the U.S.
Ukraine’s calls for an immediate ceasefire were barely discussed during the phone call, the sources added. With one source telling FT that the leaders did not interrupt Putin’s rant to gauge his seriousness on future dialogue with Europe.
Amid failed attempts at peace negotiations, Putin has repeatedly espoused his views on Russian history in conversations with world leaders. The Russian president reportedly gave a similar lecture to U.S. President Donald Trump during the August 2025 summit in Alaska, which reportedly included a lengthy lecture on medieval Rus princes, such as Rurik or Yaroslav the Wise, as well as the 17th-century Cossack leader Bohdan Khmelnytskyi.
