Medvedev Dismisses Kallas's Bid to Represent the EU: The EU Has Not Been Invited to the Ukraine Talks

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said in Dublin on the morning of November 13 that she was ready to represent Europe in negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, and that she would be able to spot the traps Russia sets.

Kallas spoke during the EU leaders' informal meeting. She said that, as the bloc's foreign policy chief, taking on the mission was her duty because too much depended on its outcome. She acknowledged that Moscow did not want her at the table, but stressed that who represents Europe is not Russia's decision, and, citing Soviet foreign minister Andrei Gromyko, argued that the EU should present maximal demands to the Russian side. She added that EU leaders had appointed her in June 2024 knowing that talks with the Russians would come within five years. By current reporting, European Council President António Costa is ahead of Kallas in the contest for the role.

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, responded later the same day on the Max platform. Kallas writes that she should represent the EU and that the Russians do not want her in that role, he said, but "nobody wants her at all, not because she is a tough negotiator, but because she is simply stupid," adding that the EU had not been invited to the negotiations on the conflict at all. Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also said that EU participation had not even been discussed at the Moscow meeting with U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

The Associated Press has meanwhile reported that the EU approved using the same group of negotiators that travelled to Abu Dhabi for contacts with Russia, with a European delegation expected to include representatives of the European Commission, the European Council, Germany, France, Italy and Poland, as well as Britain. The EU's 27 leaders, meeting informally in Dublin on November 13, failed to settle on a single negotiator, deferring the question to a special European Council on November 26-27.

Related: EU Leaders Hold Informal Meeting in Dublin: Super Intelligence and Ukraine Top the Agenda, but Who Speaks for Europe Is Undecided

(Source: Security Council of Russia)

Source: Security Council of Russia

Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)

Photo: 图：欧盟外交与安全政策高级代表卡拉斯（资料图）。照片 CC BY 4.0（Aurore Martignoni／European Union），经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Photo: EU High Representative Kaja Kallas (file photo). CC BY 4.0 (Aurore Martignoni / European Union), via Wikimedia Commons.

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