Germany, France and UK working on their own format for talks on Ukraine – NYT

Germany, France and the United Kingdom are developing their own format for negotiations on ending the Russia-Ukraine war.

Source: The New York Times, citing sources, as reported by European Pravda

Details: According to European officials interviewed by the newspaper, the three countries fear that US President Donald Trump could exclude them from any negotiations on ending the war between Russia and Ukraine.

They have therefore decided to join forces to ensure that Europe has a seat at the negotiating table.

European diplomats are developing a format for future talks to protect European interests, with France, Germany and the UK representing Europe.

The sources also said France and Germany are playing the leading role in shaping the European position.

The UK, which has a new prime minister, is displaying considerable hesitancy, partly because it is concerned about risks to its relationship with Trump, the NYT's sources added.

The Europeans expect any negotiations with Russia regarding Ukraine to be led by the US, and as Russia intensifies its missile attacks on Ukrainian territory, they are urging Trump and his envoys to reopen dialogue with Moscow.

However, the European officials said that resolving the situation in Ukraine and managing relations with Russia are too important for Europe to be indefinitely left up to the Trump administration, which appears increasingly unpredictable.

They want to ensure that Washington and Moscow do not reach any agreement behind their backs.

The UK, France and Germany believe they should be the main participants in negotiations in support of Ukraine, three European officials said. These three countries, known as the European Three (E3), form the core of the Coalition of the Willing supporting Ukraine and have developed options for military and security guarantees for the country after an agreement is reached.

Background:

• It was recently reported that former senior officials from the UK, France, Germany and Russia met in Vienna last month to discuss possible conditions for peace talks aimed at ending the war in Ukraine.
• Earlier, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that a meeting between former senior German and Russian officials had taken place in Baku in July.

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