The furore comes after confirmation Costa’s influential chief of staff Pedro Lourtie reached out to a senior Russian official, in a move that raised eyebrows among countries that say they were not informed of the plan. The EU members warn Moscow is as set on its path of aggression as it was when it launched its full-scale invasion over four years ago. Russia has amped up its indiscriminate bombing of civilian sites and critical infrastructure in recent weeks.
“Suggestions that alternative channels or backdoor diplomatic tracks are needed are misguided. The objective remains unchanged: [Russian President Vladimir] Putin must ultimately accept the conditions put forward by Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ukraine,” Michal said.
“History offers a clear warning about attempts to pursue alternative negotiating frameworks with dictators. Democratic nations end up negotiating among themselves over concessions, while the dictator simply chooses from the menu of options presented to him, exploiting divisions and weakening the democratic world.”
The reaction has seen rare criticism from leaders towards Costa, who has spent the first two years of his mandate painstakingly working to broker consensus among the bloc’s countries.
Officials have insisted the outreach was entirely within Costa’s mandate. It was done in close coordination with both EU capitals and with Ukraine and no actual negotiations begun, they say.
“What we are talking about is brief contacts with no exchange on substance — diplomats doing their job,” said one EU official with knowledge of the approach, granted anonymity to speak freely. “The contacts made at this point had the mere objective of establishing a channel of communication in order to, when the moment comes, have a diplomatic channel with Russia to defend EU’s interests.”