Financial Times refuses to correct Putin call ‘disinformation’ – media

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, who took part in the call with the Russian president, has demanded the paper retract its claims The Financial Times has refused to correct an anonymously sourced article about a recent phone call between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of Norway and Finland, despite objections from both Nordic governments. Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store and Finnish President Alexander Stubb spoke with Putin earlier this week, drawing criticism from some of Europe’s more Russia-hawkish politicians. Store has since demanded the FT retracts its reporting on the conversation. The British newspaper claimed that Putin spent significant time “lecturing” the Nordic leaders on “medieval Slavic history” and its relevance to the Ukraine conflict.

Citing three anonymous sources described only as “familiar with the conversation,” the FT portrayed the Russian president as “fixated” on history. Two European leaders called Putin. Why did it cause such a stir? Store’s government told Norwegian daily Verdens Gang (VG) that the characterization was inaccurate and that Finland had contacted the FT on behalf of both countries to challenge its account. Finnish media also covered the joint refutation, with the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat citing its own sources to dispute the British paper’s description of the call. Putin’s foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov said later in the day that the FT article is “some invented information, or rather disinformation” and that the Nordic leaders were correct to call out the publication. The FT, however, rejected the request, telling VG that it stood by its reporting. Its article, published on Tuesday, was written by three journalists. One of them, American national Christopher Miller, previously…