Europe, Russia spar over involvement in Ukraine talks

Europe sparred with Russia Friday over its participation in future Ukraine war talks, as Moscow pushed back against Washington's insistence that Kyiv's backers on the continent would be at the table.

US envoys said Thursday after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin that Europe would join future negotiations -- but the Kremlin appeared to slam the brakes on that plan, saying no decision had been made.

"Once we understand their real intentions and their willingness to contribute to the peace process, then we can make a decision on holding talks in an expanded format," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"If the Europeans really do have someone who is at least authorised in some way to talk, and if the Europeans really do have the desire to do so, then, of course, we will be ready to talk to them," Peskov said.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz dismissed the statement as a Kremlin "game", and said Europe's participation was now not in doubt.

He rejected demands from Russia to discuss Europe's broader security framework as part of the talks -- with the Kremlin appearing to want to revive hardline demands to roll back NATO.

"Russia wants to talk about questions of a European security architecture. We do not need to discuss that, it already exists," Merz said at an EU summit in Dublin.

Europe has long been pushing for a seat at the table of US-led efforts to end the war -- with European Union (EU) boss Ursula von der Leyen insisting it was "self-explanatory that Europe is included in the peace talks to safeguard our interests, but also to support Ukraine".

EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas meanwhile warned against walking into Russian "traps" over Ukraine talks, saying reaching a ceasefire needed to be the priority, not broader security negotiations.

"First we need a ceasefire," Kallas told reporters at the Dublin summit. "If we start to talk about what Russia is asking regarding the security architecture, we actually walk into the traps that Russia is setting us, which is that we divert the attention away from that there is no ceasefire."

US envoy Jared Kushner, who is also US President Donald Trump's son-in-law, said that getting Europe on board will "allow us to address the broader postwar European security arrangements".

The new push has set alarm bells ringing among US allies in Europe who have long rejected the Kremlin's desire to overhaul the continent's security framework.

- EU representative? -

At the same time there are calls for Europe to decide soon on who will represent it -- with EU leaders debating the issue in Dublin.

"This needs to be resolved," said Irish premier Micheal Martin, adding that it needs to happen "within the next week or two".

This week officials from Britain, France, and Germany, along with the EU, were present on the sidelines of talks in Abu Dhabi.

Merz insisted it was a "given" that Berlin would be involved in any delegation representing Europe.

"From my point of view, there is currently no need to conduct an institutional debate," he said.

Other leaders have backed sticking to the EU's treaties and having its top officials represent the bloc.

Kallas, for her part, urged Europe not to get bogged down by the discussion and instead focus on the substance of what it wants to achieve.

She said it was not "up to" Russia to decide who would represent Europe.

"They don't want anybody strong on the other side because they want to push through their maximum demands," the hawkish Kallas, a former prime minister of Estonia, said.

As the EU's foreign policy chief chosen by leaders, she put herself forward as a logical candidate.

"I know that the Russians don't want me, but you know, do we have a say on who is representing Russia? No, we don't," she said.