Serious disputes arose at the EU summit: what was the reason?
Саміт ЄС у Брюсселі/ Фото з відкритих джерел
The time allocated at the Brussels summit to discuss Ukraine was partly devoted to contacts between Brussels and the Kremlin that have already taken place.
This is reported by the publication European Truth .
It is known that the team of European Council President António Costa previously initiated contact with Vladimir Putin’s team. A number of European media outlets recently reported on this.
EU leaders also held a discussion on this issue.
As it became known, this topic attracted the most attention during discussions among EU countries.
According to the publication, the discussion began while President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky was in the meeting room and continued after his departure, as “a lot of leaders wanted to speak.”
The discussion on this topic lasted approximately 1.5–2 hours.
No formal decisions were made. At the same time, some leaders expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that Costa initiated this discussion without prior consultations with the European Council, according to European media.
Interlocutors in the EU, however, insist that Costa held ad hoc consultations with the capitals before calling the Kremlin, although not with all the leaders.
In addition, diplomatic sources emphasize that there were no “substantive discussions” with the Kremlin, but only “opening a channel of communication.”
It is important that Costa did not negotiate with the Russian Federation, and this approach was supported by all members of the European Council.
“There is full agreement that now is not the time to hold negotiations with Putin. But diplomats must be prepared for this if such circumstances arise,” Brussels explains.
To begin full-fledged negotiations, Costa must receive a mandate from all EU leaders.
According to sources, which have not been officially confirmed, this concerns two conversations between Costa’s chief of staff, Pedro Lurtier , and Putin’s long-time foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov , which took place in recent weeks.
At the same time, despite the controversy surrounding these contacts in the EU, the Ukrainian side has repeatedly called on the European Union to strengthen its role in negotiations with Russia.
It was previously reported that Hungary opposed Ukraine’s accelerated accession to the EU . Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban achieved the exclusion of the wording on accelerating negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union from the final declaration of the summit.
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