Did Putin give a lecture on the history of the Slavs? Norwegian Prime Minister refutes Financial Times publication

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin did not give him and Finnish President Alexander Stubb a lecture on the medieval history of the Slavs during a phone call on October 27, contrary to claims made by the British newspaper Financial Times. According to the LETA agency, citing Meduza, Støre refuted the version presented by the newspaper in an interview with the Norwegian publication VG. "We asked Financial Times to correct this because it is not true. And they will correct it, as we were part of this conversation," said the head of the Norwegian government. However, VG journalists reached out for a comment directly to Financial Times and received a different response. Representatives of the British publication stated that they do not intend to make changes to the publication, as they continue to adhere to their version of events. ## What Financial Times reported Earlier this week, Financial Times reported that during the phone call on October 27, Putin devoted a significant part of the conversation with the leaders of Norway and Finland to a historical excursion. According to the newspaper, the Russian president spoke in detail about the medieval history of the Slavs and the so-called "root causes of the conflict" — a formulation that the Kremlin uses to explain its position regarding the war against Ukraine. The publication claimed that instead of discussing specific issues related to ending the war, Putin spent most of the time telling his interlocutors about his understanding of historical events. ## Støre explained what Putin actually talked about Later, the Norwegian Prime Minister presented a different version of the conversation's content. Speaking on the Politisk kvarter program of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation NRK, Støre clarified that Putin spoke about the situation in Europe after 2014. Thus, according to the Norwegian Prime Minister, the discussion was not about the medieval history of the Slavs, as claimed by Financial Times, but about more contemporary political events. At the same time, the discrepancies between Støre's version and that of the British newspaper remain unresolved: Financial Times refuses to correct the material despite the objections of one of the direct participants in the conversation. ## Putin has previously referred to historical excursions The Russian president has repeatedly used extensive historical reasoning to explain his position regarding Ukraine and European security. In particular, in an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson in February 2024, Putin began the conversation with a lengthy exposition of the history of Russia and Ukraine. He also referred to historical arguments during a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Alaska. However, in the case of the phone call on October 27, the Norwegian Prime Minister insists that the description of the conversation in Financial Times does not correspond to reality.