Finnish and Norwegian leaders hold rare ‘frank and substantive’ call with Putin on Ukraine – Europe live

Alexander Stubb and Jonas Gahr Støre say they have briefed Volodymyr Zelenskyy after discussion with Russia’s president about next month’s Abu Dhabi peace talks Meanwhile, Wes Streeting, the defence secretary, has warned that Russia’s Vladimir Putin is “testing us and testing Nat

Alexander Stubb and Jonas Gahr Støre say they have briefed Volodymyr Zelenskyy after discussion with Russia’s president about next month’s Abu Dhabi peace talks Meanwhile, Wes Streeting, the defence secretary, has warned that Russia’s Vladimir Putin is “testing us and testing Nato’s resolve” as he condemned hybrid threats and “state-sponsored terrorism” from Russia. Streeting repeated his recent warnings that “we have to be ready for a scenario in which the United Kingdom and the Nato alliance finds itself at war with Russia”. He went on: Not because we want war – we have no quarrel with the Russian people, and we have no desire for war with Russia; Nato is a defensive alliance – but when Putin gives assurances that he has no intentions to provoke a war with Nato, we are reminded of what he said about Ukraine only days before the invasion.

The more ready we are to face against Russia, to defend every inch of Nato territory, the less likely we are to find ourselves in that scenario. Poland is one of our greatest and certainly our most reliable friend in Europe, and we value and treasure this friendship very much. Continue reading...