EU needs ‘defined strategy’ on Russia before picking an envoy

The EU is in danger of walking into a Russian “trap” on Ukraine by rushing to choose a European envoy without prior unity on a strategy to deal with Vladimir Putin, Kaja Kallas has warned.

The EU’s foreign affairs chief issued her warning ahead of informal talks in Cyprus on Thursday, cautioning that the bloc risked getting drawn into a debate over who should talk to Russia rather than finding a common approach on dealing with Moscow.

“Russia wants us to discuss who talks to them. And they are already picking who is suitable for that,” she said before convening a meeting of European foreign ministers.

“Let’s not walk into that trap. Negotiations are always a team effort, with a defined strategy. You have good cops, you have bad cops, you have strategy on how you go to the table. That’s why the substance is much more important than who.”

Some foreign ministers are pushing for the EU to choose a representative. Beate Meinl-Reisinger, the Austrian foreign minister, called on the EU to “get ready… and to appoint a chief negotiator”.

The idea of appointing a dedicated European envoy has circulated in Brussels for weeks, but was revived recently by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who argued that Europe should have a voice and presence in future peace talks with Moscow.

“It is worth determining who will represent Europe specifically,” the Ukrainian president said this week.

The names floated for the role resemble a typical European fantasy league, rather than a firm grasp on strategy towards Russia. The debate underlines divisions among many EU countries, including over the French- and British-led “coalition of the willing” to provide troops to guarantee any future peace settlement.

It also comes as Russia intensified its attacks on Ukraine over the weekend, launching another large-scale wave of strikes. Moscow warned diplomatic missions to evacuate staff ahead of what it suggested could be further attacks.

For all the attention devoted to identifying a possible envoy, talks on personalities remain largely theoretical.

“It has to be someone who would be taken seriously in Brussels, Washington, Kyiv, and Moscow,” one senior Commission official said.

Estonia’s foreign minister Margus Tsahkna warned that Putin was pressing to put the EU into the position of neutral mediator as Trump backed away from a peace settlement.

“His main goal is to win more time and bring Europe into this mediating position, and mediating means neutrality, so we won’t talk anything about more pressure on Russia,” he said.

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