The participation of the European Union in the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine was not discussed during the telephone conversation between the presidents of Russia and the United States - Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump. This was stated today by the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, quoted by TASS, BTA reported.
“This was in no way discussed and European issues were in no way touched upon during yesterday's conversation“, Peskov pointed out to the Russian state television "First Channel".
"Rather, in this regard, the Europeans will have to talk to Washington to somehow guarantee that they will be heard", the Kremlin spokesman added, noting that it is the United States that is Russia's main interlocutor on this issue.
"One way or another, of course, Ukraine will participate in the negotiations. There will be both a bilateral Russian-American track of this dialogue, and a track that will be associated with the participation of Ukraine," Peskov said in response to a question about whether Ukraine is considered a full-fledged participant in the negotiations.
Working contacts between Russia and the United States will be developed in the coming days and will be devoted to the issue of organizing a meeting between the two leaders, the Kremlin spokesman added.
"Now that the leaders have demonstrated political will and given all the necessary instructions to their aides to start working contacts, we need to wait a little for these working contacts to be developed. This will happen in the coming days and weeks," Peskov said.
"It is in the course of these working contacts that the format of this meeting between the two presidents, which they discussed during their conversation yesterday, will be specified," Peskov said.
Several NATO allies stressed today that Kiev and Europe should not be excluded from any peace talks on Ukraine, and US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth denied that the US had betrayed the war-torn country.
European governments are perplexed after the Trump administration signaled that it plans direct talks with Russia to end the war in Ukraine without including them, insisting that Kiev should not join NATO and stating that it is up to Europe to defend itself and Ukraine from anything Russia might do next, the Associated Press reported.