Russian President Vladimir Putin is prepared to hold negotiations with “everyone,” including European leaders, the Kremlin said on Friday, after reports that the European Union is considering possible talks with Moscow.
The comments followed a report by the Financial Times on Thursday suggesting that some European leaders are reassessing their approach amid growing frustration over Ukraine peace efforts led by U.S. President Donald Trump.
European Council President António Costa reportedly said there was “potential” for the EU to engage directly with Putin and that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy supported such a move.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Putin had repeatedly expressed readiness for dialogue.
“Putin is ready to negotiate with everyone. He has said this many times,” Peskov said, adding that Moscow would continue discussions “as far as the Europeans are prepared to go.”
However, he stressed that Russia would not initiate contact following what he described as the position adopted by European governments.
Moscow maintains that European states were responsible for severing ties with Russia after the start of the Ukraine conflict in 2022.
“The Russian side did not initiate the complete breakdown in relations with the EU,” Peskov said. “That decision came from Brussels and individual European capitals.”
European leaders have repeatedly argued that Russia must be defeated in Ukraine, portraying Putin as an authoritarian leader and warning that Moscow could pose a broader threat to NATO countries if it succeeds in the war. Russia has rejected those claims as baseless.
Putin, who ordered Russian troops into Ukraine in February 2022, has accused European governments of fuelling the conflict through military, financial and intelligence support for Kyiv.
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