Germany, France propose summit between EU, Russia

BRUSSELS • European Union leaders will consider whether to seek a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin as part of a new strategy to manage relations with Moscow that is also set to include the threat of more sanctions.

Envoys for France and Germany on Wednesday proposed that holding a summit with Mr Putin was a possible way to repair ties between the close trade partners, following on from United States President Joe Biden's summit in Geneva with Mr Putin.

On opposing sides in standoffs in Ukraine and Belarus, and at odds over human rights, the EU and Russia accuse each other of meddling in elections, disinformation and threatening security and stability from the Baltics to the Black Sea.

"We as the European Union must also seek direct contact with Russia and the Russian president," Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel told legislators in what is expected to be her final speech to the German Bundestag.

"It is not enough for the US president to talk to the Russian president. I very much welcome that, but the EU must also create forums for dialogue," she added.

The Kremlin welcomed the idea, saying both Brussels and Moscow needed dialogue.

"We assess the initiative positively," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said yesterday, in response to the summit proposal. He added: "Putin is a supporter of creating mechanisms for dialogue and contacts between Brussels and Moscow."

The last EU-Russia summit was in January 2014, shortly before Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.

The EU subsequently froze summits with Mr Putin but its policy has zigzagged between imposing economic sanctions and allowing a new gas pipeline from Russia to Germany to reach completion.

EU leaders are now set to call on the European Commission and the EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell "to present options for additional restrictive measures, including economic sanctions", according to a draft of the summit statement seen by Reuters.

Some countries such as Belgium said they supported the Franco-German initiative, whereas the Netherlands, Poland and the Baltics echoed a wider-held view that Mr Putin would have to show some gesture of goodwill.

"The conditions for a summit are not right and not there," one senior EU diplomat said.

"Why have a summit with Putin if there is nothing positive to discuss?" another diplomat argued.

Efforts to resolve the conflict between Ukrainian forces and Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine have reached a stalemate, despite ceasefires and peace agreements.

In a sign of tensions, Russia said this week that it had fired warning shots and dropped bombs in the path of a British destroyer sailing in the Black Sea off the coast of Crimea, although Britain, no longer an EU member, has denied it.

The proposed summit statement warned of a "negative spiral" and "a further downturn" in ties and proposed using the mantra, "Push back, constrain, engage".

"Out of a confrontation of ideas comes understanding," a senior EU diplomat said in support of the EU strategy, although the envoy also doubted a sudden improvement in trust.

Potential for new flashpoints abound.

The EU will, by today, publish details of economic sanctions on Belarus, an ally of Russia that the Kremlin sees as a buffer state between Russia and Nato.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE