EU’s Top Diplomat Says ‘Good Luck’ to US Effort to Bring Putin Into Fold

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(Bloomberg) — The European Union’s top diplomat poured cold water on the American proposal to reestablish economic ties with Russia as part of ongoing discussions to end Moscow’s war against Ukraine. 

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“Russia is not a rule-of-law country and we’ve seen companies being nationalized, so I say ‘good luck with that’,” Kaja Kallas, the EU’s foreign policy chief, told Bloomberg Television on Thursday. 

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The US has imposed massive sanctions against Moscow since the beginning of the war and is preparing some fresh measures targeting its energy sector to increase pressure in case President Vladimir Putin rejects a peace agreement with Ukraine, Bloomberg reported earlier. 

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But as part of the ongoing negotiations, the US has also offered restoring economic ties and massive investments. 

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“There’s a strong push for peace, especially the Ukrainians really want to have peace for Christmas, but it’s a bit one-sided because Russia hasn’t agreed to any of the points,” Kallas said. “We need to go from the place where they are pretending to negotiate to actually pushing them into a place where they need to negotiate.” 

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Meanwhile, the Europeans are racing to tap immobilized Russian central bank assets located in the EU to back a €90 billion ($106 billion) loan to Ukraine. EU leaders face a make-or-break decision Thursday on whether to use those assets. 

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Without fresh funds, Ukraine is likely to run out of the money in the spring. 

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The efforts to sign off on the loan have faced opposition from several member states led by Belgium, where most of the funds are located. The country wants iron-clad assurances it won’t be left on the hook if Russia successfully sues to get the money back. Without fresh funds, Ukraine is likely to run out of the money in the spring.

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“Belgium is under a lot of pressure from Russia, from all the Europeans, also from the US and in order to release that pressure we should do the European legislative proposal because then it’s Europe that is responsible, all of us, it takes the burden off Belgium,” Kallas said. 

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Negotiations in Berlin earlier this week produced an offer of strong security guarantees from the US, but talks continue to be weighed down by intractable question over territory. Putin has given little indication he’s ready to end his full-scale invasion, which is approaching its four-year mark.

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Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who will join European leaders at their summit in Brussels on Thursday, has said a delegation from Kyiv is heading for another round of talks in the US on Friday and Saturday.

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“Putin wants us to fail and we can’t give him that,” Kallas said.

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