Russia calls participation of European countries in peace talks on Ukraine “inexpedient”
The Russian Federation confirmed that the Russian side had received certain “signals” from European countries about their desire to participate in peace negotiations to end the war in Ukraine. At the same time, Moscow said that it considered it “inexpedient.”
This was stated during a briefing by Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, according to the Russian news agency TASS.
According to Peskov, “there were signals from the Europeans” regarding their “place at the negotiating table” regarding the settlement of the “conflict in Ukraine,” but Moscow does not see this as “necessary or appropriate.”
On March 15, the Financial Times, citing a European diplomat, wrote that in February, the Russian leader’s assistant Yuri Ushakov rudely refused French representatives who arrived in the Russian capital and tried to convince the Kremlin to allow European states to peace talks.
At the same time, Peskov, in a comment to the publication, stated that Europe “does not want to help the peace process.” As he claimed, the Europeans “spend all their efforts on convincing the Ukrainians to continue the war,” while the Russian Federation “is confident that it is winning.” He also said that the “dynamics on the front” for the Russian army is “positive.”
In December 2025, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that European countries should join the dialogue with Putin. Finnish President Alexander Stubb, during a speech at the London think tank Chatham House on March 17, 2026, also said that European states would have to open channels of political dialogue with Russia.
