German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Monday that the EU is always ready to talk to Russia to try to end the war in Ukraine, but will not “open any parallel channels of communication“, Reuters reported.
“Of course, we are always ready to talk to Russia“, Merz told reporters in Abu Dhabi. “There are currently coordinated talks here in Abu Dhabi (…), if we can contribute to making these talks even better, even more successful, then we will do that. However, we will not open any parallel channels of communication“, he added.
The next stage of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia with the mediation of the United States in Abu Dhabi ended yesterday. The two sides agreed to hold further discussions in the coming weeks.
Merz's statement came as Agence France-Presse reported yesterday that French President Emmanuel Macron had sent his foreign policy adviser Emmanuel Bonne to Moscow on Tuesday to meet his Russian counterpart Yuri Ushakov and to prepare for the resumption of dialogue between the French leader and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The trip, which neither the Elysee Palace nor the Kremlin wanted to confirm or deny, is the first of its kind since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine four years ago. It is likely to be one of the last steps before a possible future meeting between the two leaders.
On Tuesday, the French president said that the resumption of dialogue with Putin was being prepared at a technical level, without giving further details.
Most European leaders have severed ties with the Russian president over the war in Ukraine. Since the US president Donald Trump has become closer to Putin, but the temptation to restore contact is great, so as not to leave the American leader to act completely alone in the diplomatic field with Russia.
The French president was criticized for continuing to speak with his Russian counterpart months after the start of the Russian invasion, but then he broke off all contact and began to speak in an increasingly harsh tone towards Moscow.