French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz criticized the decision by European Council President António Costa to establish dialogue with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
Politico stated this in an article, citing five EU diplomats and officials, Ukrinform reported.
According to the sources, during the summit in Brussels - on Thursday evening, without aides and even without mobile phones because of the sensitivity of the topic - Macron and Merz criticized Costa's efforts to establish contact with the Kremlin on behalf of all 27 governments.
Sources said that Costa's chief of staff, Pedro Lourtie, contacted Russian officials twice in recent weeks. Costa's team stated that the conversations were intended solely to establish a diplomatic communication channel with Russia so that the EU would have a means of protecting its interests when the time comes. They added that the contacts were brief and contained no substantive discussions.
According to the sources, Macron and Merz believe that now is not the right time to engage in talks with Putin and that, when such a moment arrives, the initiative should be led by the "E3" countries — France, Germany, and United Kingdom. One source said that Merz told fellow leaders that although Costa represents the EU, he should not act as a mediator.
