The FT wrote on Thursday that the European Union’s U-turn was driven by frustration with the talks to end the war in Ukraine led by US President Donald Trump.
The President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, said that he believes that there is a “potential” for the EU’s negotiations with Putin, and that the alliance has the support of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“Putin is ready to negotiate with everyone. He has repeated that several times,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters when asked about the FT article. “We will be ready to advance in the dialogue as much as the Europeans are ready to do so. However, as Putin has already emphasized, we will not initiate such contacts after the positions taken by the Europeans.”
Russia believes that European governments are the ones who must make the first move because they are the ones who broke off contacts with Moscow in 2022 after the start of the war in Ukraine.
“The Russian side was not the initiator of the complete termination of our relations with the EU,” Peskov said. “It was initiated by Brussels and certain European capitals.”
European leaders have previously stressed that Russia must be defeated in Ukraine, and have described Putin as a war criminal and autocrat who, according to their claims, could one day attack a NATO member if he is allowed to win.
(Vijesti.ba / FENA)
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