Brussels says door open to direct talks with Putin 'at some point' but 'we're not there yet'

The European Commission has publicly raised the prospect of engaging in direct talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine, while cautioning that Moscow's relentless bombing campaign makes such a move impossible at this stage.

"We're working very, very hard for peace in Ukraine," Paula Pinho, the chief spokesperson of the European Commission, said on Monday afternoon.

"Peace in Ukraine depends on one single person. That person is, as you know very well, President Putin. So obviously, at some point, there will have to be talks also with President Putin. In the meantime, a lot of work is being done," Pinho went on.

"Unfortunately, we're not seeing any signs (from) President Putin to be engaging in such talks, so we're not there yet, but, at some point, we would indeed hope that there will be such talks that will finally lead to peace in Ukraine."

Asked whether Commission President Ursula von der Leyen should be the one picking up the phone, Pinho declined to "speculate on the whens and the ifs and the whos" and urged Putin to agree to a face-to-face meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, which the Russian leader has repeatedly refused to hold.

"This is not due to President Zelenskyy, who has very often said that he's ready for that," Pinho said. "We're not there yet," she repeated. "We wish we would be there."

The comments represent an important shift in the Commission's policy, which until now has been firmly focused on diplomatically isolating and economically sanctioning the Kremlin for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine and hybrid attacks against Europe.

The change in tone comes days after French President Emmanuel Macron hosted a meeting of the "Coalition of the Willing" in Paris and said re-establishing dialogue with Putin should be done "as soon as possible".

Macron had previously argued that speaking directly with Putin would be "useful" to avoid depending on the United States, which currently acts as the sole intermediary.

On Friday, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni backed Macron's pitch.

"I think Macron is right on this. I believe the time has come for Europe to also speak with Russia," Meloni told reporters. "Because if Europe decides to take part in this phase of negotiations by talking only to one of the two sides, I fear that in the end the positive contribution it can make will be limited."

The Italian leader suggested the EU appoint a special envoy to lead the conversation on behalf of all 27 member states. But she did not put forward a specific name.

"If we were to make the mistake of deciding, on the one hand, to reopen dialogue with Russia, and on the other, to proceed in a disorganised way, we would be doing Putin a favour," Meloni said at her traditional New Year's press conference.

"We have had this problem from the start. Too many voices speaking, too many formats."

Though not entirely new, the idea of speaking directly with Putin has gained traction in the context of the negotiations promoted by the US, which has at times left European countries sidelined and scrambling for a seat at the table.

In recent weeks, Europeans have stepped up their engagement with Washington to draft a joint set of security guarantees for post-war Ukraine. However, it is still the White House that speaks with the Kremlin and obtains its input.

Reviving dialogue with Russia, largely cut off since February 2022, remains highly controversial across the bloc given the war's persistent brutality.

Last week, Europeans voiced unison outrage at Moscow's decision to launch the intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missile Oreshnik to target critical infrastructure in Lviv in western Ukraine, about 60 kilometres from the border with the EU and NATO.

"Putin doesn't want peace," said High Representative Kaja Kallas. "Russia's reply to diplomacy is more missiles and destruction. This deadly pattern of recurring major Russian strikes will repeat itself until we help Ukraine break it."

The only EU leaders who maintain open communications with Putin are Hungary's Viktor Orbán and Slovakia's Robert Fico, both vocal critics of European assistance to Kyiv.