German Chancellor Friedrich Merz distanced himself on Friday from calls by French President Emmanuel Macron to open up direct talks with Moscow to end the Russian war in Ukraine.
Asked at the opening of the annual Munich Security Conference about efforts to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table, Merz said Russia is “not yet willing to talk seriously.”
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“If it makes sense to talk, we are ready to talk, but [the Russians] have to concede that they are really willing to talk about a ceasefire and then about a peace plan,” Merz said.
Macron suggested last year that Europe should reestablish direct communication with Putin if the US makes no progress in peace talks. Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni later backed Macron’s push. Macron said in January that he would set up a phone call with Putin – something that has yet to take place.
On Thursday, Macron said such a phone call would not take place in the immediate future.
“We Europeans, we also have things to discuss, that’s why we want to be around the [negotiating] table,” he said, name-checking Ukraine’s economic recovery and Europe’s future security architecture.
Macron dispatched his diplomatic adviser to the Kremlin this month, prompting a mocking response from Russia.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy predicted this week that a separate European track of talks with Russia would only lead to Moscow humiliating the Europeans.
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Without naming Viktor Orbán, Merz referred to a trip Hungarian Prime Minister made to Moscow in 2024 to hold talks with Putin.
“He had no mandate. He went there. He achieved nothing,” Merz said.
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