BRUSSELS, October 28. /TASS/. Some European countries reacted negatively to Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store’s initiative to hold a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Politico reported, citing sources.

An unnamed official from a European country said that individual countries holding talks with Russia undermined Europe’s united voice and was a bad idea. An Italian official said that national initiatives and constantly changing diplomatic formats risked further weakening Europe’s influence, while the phone call had exposed the European Union’s inability to agree on who should represent its interests in peace negotiations.

However, the newspaper noted that the European Commission itself reacted cautiously, indicating the sensitivity of the issue. "We took note of the call, which took place exclusively in a bilateral format," the newspaper quoted European Commission Spokesperson Paula Pinho as saying.

On October 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone call with Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store at the request of the Finnish and Norwegian sides. They exchanged views on resolving the Ukrainian crisis. The participants welcomed the agreement to resume trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States in Abu Dhabi in the first half of November.

Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said the conversation lasted about an hour and a half and was thorough and substantive. The leaders of the three countries agreed to continue maintaining direct telephone contacts. The Finnish president’s office noted that Stubb and Store "participated in the conversation as the leaders of their respective countries and did not speak on behalf of Europe as a whole."