Merz now sees Putin’s turn – Kremlin compares Europeans to “spiders in a jar”

After a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow, US special envoy Steve Witkoff spoke of progress in the struggle to end the war in Ukraine and announced a new date for talks. “I think progress has been made,” Witkoff told CNN on Thursday. Nobody thought that the tripartite talks between Ukraine, Russia and the USA would be resumed. But that happened. “We have agreed on a new date,” he said, without giving details. The statement can be understood as a possible announcement of another meeting between the three countries.

Witkoff and Jared Kushner, US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, traveled to Moscow from Abu Dhabi. On Tuesday and Wednesday, for the first time in more than eight months, a Ukrainian and a Russian delegation sat opposite each other for direct talks under US mediation.

Putin reiterated Russian territorial demands at the meeting with US negotiators. He also proposed a temporary ceasefire for the Donbass town of Kostiantynivka in order to evacuate civilians from there, as was recently the case from the Moscow-occupied front-line town of Oleshky. However, the situation in Kostiantynivka is less clear: according to military bloggers, there are still positions of Ukrainian soldiers there.

Putin's foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov called the talks constructive and substantive. The discussions would continue at a planned meeting between Putin and Trump next week in China, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.

“It’s hard to say,” says Rutte, uncertain

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte was much more reserved than Witkoff. “It's very difficult to say,” he told AFP when asked whether Ukraine was closer to peace than it was a week ago. Rutte spoke on the sidelines of the European Political Community (EPG) summit in Dublin, a discussion format between EU states and other European countries. Negotiators from the United States, Europe and Ukraine worked “day after day to end this war, to achieve a peace in which Ukraine can fully determine its own future as a sovereign, independent nation.” He did not comment on the content of the negotiations. He simply insisted that the US, Europe and Ukraine were “on the same page.”

Witkoff and Kushner wanted to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Dublin on Thursday evening and report on their conversation with Putin. According to European diplomatic circles, advisors and diplomats from France, Germany, Great Britain and possibly other countries should also take part. Ukraine and the USA want to get Russia to accept European negotiators at the negotiating table. In Abu Dhabi, representatives of the so-called E3, i.e. Great Britain, France and Germany, as well as Italy, were present on the sidelines of the talks. However, they did not meet directly with the Russian delegation.

Who should speak for Europe?

Who should speak for Europe is an open question. Germany and France are trying to downplay the question of a joint delegate. It “doesn’t depend on people,” but rather on the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to hold talks, said Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) on the sidelines of the summit in Dublin. French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated that Europe needs “above all a clear and unified vision of what it wants for Ukraine and itself.”

In Dublin, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni appeared open to EU Council President António Costa taking on this role. The question certainly falls within his area of ​​responsibility, she told journalists. “I personally wouldn’t have any objection to it.” It then remains unclear how European countries outside the EU, such as Great Britain and Norway, should be represented. “But I think a solution can be found for this too,” said Meloni. Decisions could be made during the negotiations that affect countries that are not even at the table. “I think there needs to be a pretty clear mandate for that.”

The question of the European negotiator is due to come to the table this Friday at the informal summit.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called on European states to find a common solution. “Europeans argue like spiders in a jar,” he said. Anyone who takes the initiative to contact the Russian side will be excluded. Russia rejects direct participation of European states in the negotiations and accuses them of supporting the Ukrainian armed forces with money and weapons.