Prime Minister Støre spoke with President Putin

‘Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a brutal attack on a free country, and is subjecting innocent people to inconceivable suffering. I strongly urged the President to cease the hostilities, withdraw Russian forces and ensure humanitarian access. I emphasised in particular that there must be unimpeded humanitarian access to the civilian population in Mariupol, and that a negotiated solution to the war must be sought,’ said Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. 

As a result of the war, some 4 million Ukrainians have fled the country and close to 6.5 million are now internally displaced.

‘We are deeply concerned about the scale of the devastation and suffering the Russian invasion has caused. We must do all we can to find a negotiated solution to this war,’ said Mr Støre.

It was Prime Minister Støre who initiated the contact with President Putin, after discussions with allies in the Nordic region, Europe and the US. Mr Støre also had a video conversation with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on Wednesday afternoon.

‘Russia is our neighbour. It is therefore important for us to convey our views on the war directly to the Russian President. We have no illusions about how much we can achieve, but we must leave no stone unturned in the current situation. The suffering must cease. Our main message was that Russia must end the war,’ Mr Støre said.

Prime Minister available for the press

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre will be available for the press at the Office of the Prime Minister on Thursday 31 March at 13:15. He will answer questions about his telephone conversation with the Russian President in plenum. Members of the press who are unable to attend in person may submit their questions beforehand to smkinfo@smk.dep.no.

Where: Office of the Prime Minister, Glacisgata 1.
All those attending must present a valid press card and photo ID.

The press conference will be recorded by the Norwegian Government Security and Service Organisation (DSS) and may be watched live on www.regjeringen.no. Videos may also be downloaded from the site afterwards. DSS will follow its practice of distributing a publishing point to media outlets that wish to send the press conference live. DSS can be reached by telephone at +47 22 24 88 45 or email at dss-videoproduksjon@dss.dep.no.

Media representatives who wish to embed the webcast on their websites may use the following embed code: <div id='wowza_player'></div><script id='player_embed' src='//player.cloud.wowza.com/hosted/k7fvkgpt/wowza.js' type='text/javascript'></script>

Press contacts: State Secretary Tale Benedikte Jordbakke, tel. +47 97 65 14 57, email tjo@smk.dep.no and Head of Communications Anne Kristin Hjukse, tel. +47 99 21 46 10, email ahj@smk.dep.no.