Back channel line opened by António Costa
The EU has moved to make contact with the Kremlin as new momentum builds toward holding peace talks with Russia aimed at ending the country’s war on Ukraine.
Officials working for António Costa, the European Council president, have undertaken the outreach efforts in an attempt to bring Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, to the negotiating table.
“In the past few weeks, brief contacts were made to open communication channels but nothing was discussed on substance,” said one EU official.
The overture to the Kremlin, first reported by the Bloomberg news agency, comes after Donald Trump’s shift at the G7 summit to pressure Putin and grant the Europeans a greater role.
