Ukraine rebukes Germany, France over Putin summit push

Ukraine’s foreign minister on Friday warned the German and French ambassadors against an abortive bid for the European Union to restart meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

EU leaders said Friday they had rejected the proposal from German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron, which came after US President Joe Biden’s sit-down with Putin last week.

The proposal was opposed by numerous EU member states — especially in eastern Europe — who remain deeply wary of rewarding the Kremlin with talks before it changes its aggressive course.

Following a meeting in Kiev with the French and German envoys, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a statement that opening new top-level talks with Moscow would run “counter to sanctions policy” and “undermine European solidarity”, as well as reducing incentives for Russia to stick to its peace deal with Ukraine.

“The parties agreed that (questions like an EU-Russia summit) should be discussed with Ukraine before being announced,” he added.

Ties between the European Union and Russia have frayed since the Kremlin annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014 and is widely seen as backing pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine.

Germany and France serve as mediators in the conflict.

Brussels has slapped waves of sanctions on Moscow, and Russia has responded with its own countermeasures.

“Unfortunately, Russia has not demonstrated any will to change its policy, neither towards Ukraine, nor towards the EU, and we believe there are no grounds to resume summits,” Kuleba said.