Russia is prepared to reestablish diplomatic connections with Europe to the pre-war standards, the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, stated on Thursday, as the relations are at an all-time low since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. When Putin was speaking in Kremlin at a celebration of new foreign ambassadors, he deplored that there were no official or business contacts between Russia and European nations. He said the involvement in major foreign policy matters had also been frozen.
Putin promised that, eventually, the situation would still improve, and our states would go back to a normal constructive dialogue, but that, respect to the national interests and a legitimate concern of security, were his preconditions of a restoration of friendly relations. The president added that Russia was and is determined to exactly such methods and is willing to restore us to the degree of relations that we need.
Putin made the comments following comments by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday that it was time to have high-level dialogue between the EU and Russia. French President Emmanuel Macron also announced last month that Europe needed to assemble an outline in which to commence communicating directly with the Kremlin in the coming weeks. Monday, European Commission chief spokesperson Paula Pinho said, “Unfortunately, we are not seeing any indications out of President Putin that he is engaging, thus we are not there yet. Leaders in Europe had earlier opposed the idea of direct negotiations with Putin using the fact that he does not seem to be willing to engage in any serious negotiations towards peace. But in Brussels there is an increasing concern that Europe has no place at the table in the negotiations to settle the peace in Ukraine, which have, to date, been dominated by the Kremlin and the Trump Administration.
The betterment in the relation of Russia and the European countries will not be a sweet fruit for Ukraine in context of war. Unless the war peace talks are not taken on the table, The betterment in the relation may open route to trade for Russia, which may not be a good news for Ukraine and its close allies.