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European Council President Antonio Costa defended his office’s diplomatic outreach to the Kremlin on Friday, saying the EU needs a direct channel with Russia to support Ukraine through diplomacy and convey the bloc’s messages to Moscow.
Speaking after a summit of EU leaders, Costa said the bloc must be able to “listen” to Russia despite concerns from some member states.
“It is precisely because we need also to support Ukraine through diplomatic means that we need to have a direct diplomatic channel with Russia,” Costa said.
He added that negotiations had not yet begun and that Moscow had not shown it was ready to engage seriously.
“The time to negotiate has not arrived yet,” Costa said, adding there were no “credible signs” that Russia wants to engage.
“But in any case, we need to establish immediately this direct contact, because we need to listen to them,” he said, adding that the EU also needed to be able to “convey directly” its messages to Moscow.
An EU official said Wednesday that Costa’s office had made “brief contacts at diplomatic level” with Moscow to open communication channels.
The move came as discussions increased over whether Europe should re-engage with Russia about ending the war in Ukraine.
Costa, who chairs summits of EU leaders, faced pushback from some member states over the outreach.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for Europe to play a more active role as U.S. efforts to end the fighting have faded.
Some EU states have remained cautious about reaching out to the Kremlin.
Diplomats said several leaders pushed back against Costa’s efforts during the Brussels summit.
French President Emmanuel Macron said after the meeting that Europe would eventually need to be at the table in any talks to end the war, but that Russia first had to show it was ready for genuine negotiations.
“It’s up to Russia, to whom many offers have been made in recent months, to say when it will be ready to negotiate,” Macron said.
“The negotiations will initially take place between Russia and Ukraine, and will have to bring the Americans and Europeans to the table,” he added.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said the moment had not yet arrived for Europe to decide who should represent it in talks with the Kremlin.
Merz said Germany, Britain and France had taken a leading role at Ukraine’s request and that Costa could also have a role to play.
Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez backed Costa’s initiative, saying it did not amount to the start of negotiations with Russia.
“He didn’t engage in any peace talks or negotiations. It was simply a diplomatic channel,” Sanchez said.
“I think that’s perfectly understandable and, from the Spanish government’s point of view, I would even say it’s necessary,” he added.
Costa’s comments underscored the EU’s effort to maintain support for Ukraine while leaving open a diplomatic line to Moscow.
He said any future process would require direct contact, even though he stressed that the conditions for negotiations had not yet emerged.
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