Belgian PM urges EU to negotiate with Russia to achieve peace in Ukraine

Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever has called on EU member states to authorise the European Union to conduct negotiations with Russia, noting that efforts so far have failed to compel Moscow to end the war in Ukraine.

Source: De Wever in an interview with Belgian newspaper L'Echo, cited by Euractiv, an EU-focused news and analysis website, as reported by European Pravda

Quote from De Wever: "Since we are not capable of threatening Vladimir Putin by sending weapons to Ukraine, and we cannot choke him economically without the support of the US, there is only one method left: making a deal."

Details: De Wever added that bringing Russia to its knees would only be possible with "100% support from the US". But he said he believes the US is not fully on Ukraine's side and sometimes seems "closer to Putin" than to Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

"Without a mandate to go and negotiate in Moscow, we are not at the negotiating table where the Americans will push Ukraine to accept a deal. And I can already say that it will be a bad agreement for us," he said.

Background:

• In December, French President Emmanuel Macron said the Europeans should resume direct talks with Putin. European leaders, wary of Putin's military ambitions, said at the time that they were frustrated at being left out of peace negotiations led by US President Donald Trump's administration.
• In February, Macron told journalists that efforts to restore dialogue with Putin were ongoing at a technical level and that these interactions were being coordinated with Ukraine.
• German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has said he supports the idea of dialogue with Russia, provided that it does not interfere with negotiations aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.

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