Informal talks on the war in Ukraine took place in Vienna — Bloomberg
Informal talks took place in Vienna in July, involving former high-ranking officials from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Russia, during which they discussed possible terms for ending the Russian-Ukrainian war.
According to Bloomberg, the exact date of the meeting has not been disclosed. The participants discussed potential terms for future peace talks.
According to Bloomberg, participants in the meeting were Tim Barrow, a former British government adviser on national security; Markus Ederer, a former German state secretary; French diplomat Pierre Vimon; and a former Kremlin official whose name has not been disclosed.
As the agency notes, Barrow and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to journalists’ requests for comment. Meanwhile, the German Foreign Ministry stated that it had no knowledge of these talks.
“They were not conducted on behalf of the Federal Foreign Office or in coordination with it,” the ministry said.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also declined to comment on the report of the meeting.
Bloomberg notes that former officials and think tanks often engage in so-called “informal diplomacy,” which does not involve representing governments or holding an official mandate. Such meetings are held to exchange ideas that may later be conveyed through official diplomatic channels.
This is reported by Bloomberg.
As a reminder, for four years, Western countries had hoped that military setbacks and economic pressure would force Russian President Vladimir Putin to the negotiating table. However, this strategy proved to be misguided.
The U.S. will attempt to resume peace talks between Ukraine and Russia.
