The Baltic countries — Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia — were reportedly “furious” about the outreach to Russia, according to a European diplomat involved in the issue. Several leaders were informed of the calls only after seeing media reports and were upset, according to three other diplomats. They spoke to POLITICO on the condition of anonymity due to the topic’s sensitivity.
The Costa team did notify Germany, France, the U.K. — known as the E3 — and the European Commission before the calls, one diplomat said. However, two other diplomats claimed Berlin had not been informed in advance.
Justification
Portuguese Lourtie, known in Brussels as a dealmaker, addressed ambassadors from the EU’s 27 governments on Wednesday when news of the calls, first reported by Bloomberg, went public. Although he complained about the media leaks, he justified the calls, noting they followed a direct request by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for Europe to engage in peace negotiations, according to an EU diplomat familiar with the meeting.
Lourtie did not confirm whether more calls would occur but promised to inform ambassadors if so, the diplomat stated.
The calls were with Putin’s national security adviser, Lourtie informed the ambassadors, according to three diplomats.
Notably, Russia does not officially have a national security adviser, although Sergei Shoigu is the Security Council’s secretary, Yuri Ushakov is President Vladimir Putin’s chief foreign-policy aide, and Nikolai Patrushev is a senior strategic adviser with significant influence over security policy.
Leave a Reply