A growing swell of EU countries is calling for direct talks with Russia, despite its intensification of strikes against Ukrainian civilians and hybrid warfare against Europe.<\/p>\n
Leading figures from Estonia, Latvia, and Luxembourg have joined previous calls by Austria, the Czech Republic, France, and Italy in saying the EU ought to have a role alongside the US in Ukraine peace talks \u2014 a move that would de facto end Russian president Vladimir Putin\u2019s diplomatic isolation by the West.<\/p>\n
The EU ought to appoint a special envoy for Russia, the Estonian president, the Latvian prime minister, and Luxembourg\u2019s foreign minister told the Euronews broadcaster on Wednesday<\/a> (4 February) in separate interviews.<\/p>\n \u201cThe European Union should be involved in these discussions as well,\u201d said Estonian president Alar Karis, referring to US-brokered peace talks in Abu Dhabi, which began the same day.<\/p>\n \u201cA couple of years ago, we were in a position that we didn\u2019t talk with aggressors, and now we\u2019re worried that we are not at the table,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Latvian prime minister Evika Sili\u0146a said: \u201cI think you need to engage in diplomacy. You always need to talk, but we need to \u2026 still have sanctions on Russia\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have to be at the negotiation table because Ukrainians themselves have started to negotiate. So why should Europeans not negotiate?\u201d, she added.<\/p>\n Luxembourg foreign minister Xavier Bettel said \u201cWe need to talk with them [the Russians] if we want a solution \u2026 we are absent\u201d.<\/p>\n Bettel proposed himself, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, or EU Council president Ant\u00f3nio Costa as potential EU envoys.<\/p>\n Sili\u0146a proposed French president Emmanuel Macron, German chancellor Friedrich Merz, Polish prime minister Donald Tusk.<\/p>\n Paris reaches out<\/p>\n For his part, Macron said on Tuesday his officials had already reached out to the Kremlin \u201cat the technical level\u201d to set up a potential meeting.<\/p>\n Macron last met Putin in Moscow on 8 February 2022, but their meeting did nothing to stop Putin fully invading Ukraine 16 days later.<\/p>\n They last held formal phone talks on 1 July 2025.<\/p>\n The then Austrian chancellor Karl Nehammer went to Moscow in April 2025 with nothing in return, but the Kremlin-friendly Hungarian and Slovak leaders are the only ones who have regularly visited Moscow<\/a> since the rupture in Western relations \u2014 attracting opprobrium from fellow EU member states.<\/p>\n US president Donald Trump also met Putin in Alaska<\/a> on 15 August 2025, but failed to stop Russian aggression.<\/p>\n And Putin launched one of his largest air-strikes against civilian infrastructure and residential buildings in the history of the four-year war on the eve of the Abu Dhabi meeting.<\/p>\n This didn\u2019t stop the UAE foreign ministry saying on Wednesday that the talks \u201creflects the commitment of the participating parties to the diplomatic process\u201d.<\/p>\n But the EU Commission told press in Brussels the same day \u201cwe have no signs of such willingness yet [for a ceasefire]\u201d from Russia, given its decision to \u201cdestroy civilian targets and kill people\u201d on Tuesday.<\/p>\n The EU foreign relations chief Kaja Kallas, a former Estonian prime minister, and an Estonian foreign ministry spokesman have also said the same, despite Karis\u2019 views, showing the divisiveness of the issue.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is not possible to engage in talks with Russia, nor should we offer it a way out of isolation,\u201d the Estonian spokesman told Euronews.<\/p>\n Bettel vs Kallas<\/p>\n Luxembourg\u2019s Bettel attacked Kallas<\/a>, saying \u201cWho represents Europe? I see Kaja Kallas wasn\u2019t \u2026 in Washington when there was [Ukraine] discussions with the president [Donald Trump]. It\u2019s her job\u201d.<\/p>\n He also disqualified her as the potential EU envoy to Russia on grounds \u201cthey [the Russians] don\u2019t want to talk to Kaja Kallas\u201d.<\/p>\n But Germany\u2019s Merz was more aligned with her views, with the German foreign ministry saying on Monday there was no point in talks with Moscow due to its \u201cmaximalist demands\u201d, as well as its ongoing aggression.<\/p>\n Russia has said Ukraine must cede territory, demilitarise, give up on Nato membership, and forego Western security guarantees.<\/p>\n And Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova proved him right on Wednesday by repeating threats to fire on any European peacekeeping forces sent to Ukraine after a ceasefire.<\/p>\n \u201cRussia has repeatedly made clear that the presence of Western troops on Ukrainian soil, under any flag, threatens our security. We will treat these troops as legitimate military targets,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Putin also held a phone-summit with Chinese president Xi Jinping on Wednesday to underline that he was not alone on the world stage.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery season is spring\u201d for Russian-Chinese relations, Putin said, according to a Kremlin readout.<\/p>\n His original peace plan touted with Trump had called for Russia\u2019s readmission to the G7 club of powerful countries, lifting of Western sanctions, and amnesty for war crimes.<\/p>\n The EU has also backed cultural, sports, and scientific boycotts<\/a> of Russia, for instance in the Eurovision Song Contest and international soccer championships, as well as curbing Russian tourist visas to Europe.<\/p>\n