Pragmatic or pointless? Europe’s rift over whether to pick up the phone to Putin

With no single European representative negotiating directly with Moscow, some leaders are establishing their own channels – with messy results The Nordic countries rarely fall out in public…

With no single European representative negotiating directly with Moscow, some leaders are establishing their own channels – with messy results The Nordic countries rarely fall out in public over foreign policy, least of all over Russia. But a 90-minute phone call this week to Vladimir Putin by the leaders of Finland and Norway drew an unusual rebuke from their Danish and Swedish neighbours. Continue reading...