SANCTIONS

The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said she will circulate to member states a list of concessions Europe should demand from Russia as part of any settlement to end the war in Ukraine, arguing that conditions should be placed on Moscow rather than Kyiv.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels on Tuesday, Ms Kallas said Europeans must be accepted as essential parties to any agreement, after negotiations have largely been conducted between Ukrainian, US and Russian officials, with EU capitals consulted intermittently.

“Everybody around the table, including the Russians and the Americans, needs to understand that you need Europeans to agree,” Kallas said, adding that Europe should set out its own requirements for a “sustainable peace”.

Ms Kallas said she would put the proposed list to EU governments “in the coming days”. Asked what the demands might cover, she cited the return of Ukrainian children abducted during the war and restrictions on Russia’s armed forces, without providing further detail.

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Her remarks reflect a broader European effort to define collective red lines as Washington pursues direct engagement with Moscow. EU officials have argued that Europe’s role is unavoidable because it holds key levers, including sanctions architecture and the bulk of Russian sovereign assets immobilised under EU measures.

European officials estimate that about €210 billion in Russian assets are frozen in Europe, a figure often cited as potential leverage in any negotiation over reparations, reconstruction financing, or sanctions relief.

The EU has pursued a policy of diplomatic isolation of Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. That approach has come under renewed strain as some European leaders and officials debate whether the bloc should open direct channels to Moscow, partly out of concern that extensive US-Russia contacts could produce a deal that Europeans and Ukrainians would struggle to accept.

The question of how, and whether, Europe should speak to Russia has sharpened in recent weeks. In a sign of diverging instincts among member states, Euronews reported that several governments have expressed support for appointing a special envoy to represent the EU in any talks with the Kremlin, while others remain wary of creating parallel lines of communication.

Ms Kallas did not dismiss the envoy idea outright but said the bloc must first agree on its messages and objectives. “If we don’t stand up for anything, there’s no point for us to be around the table,” she said, framing the exercise as a test of European unity as much as a negotiating position.

The debate has also been influenced by French diplomacy. Reuters reported last week that Emmanuel Bonne, President Emmanuel Macron’s top foreign policy adviser, travelled to Moscow and held talks with Russian officials, according to multiple diplomatic sources. The French presidency said contacts were taking place at technical level in coordination with Ukraine and European partners.

Mr Macron has previously signalled that Europe may need to be ready to re-engage Russia directly if US-led efforts falter. The reported Moscow visit has therefore been read in some capitals as an early attempt to ensure European interests are not excluded from any emerging framework, while also underlining how sensitive direct contacts remain inside the EU.

Ms Kallas, Estonia’s former prime minister, has sought to keep the focus on Russian responsibilities rather than Ukrainian compromises. The approach is consistent with her public messaging in recent days, including at the Oslo Security Conference on 2 February, where she appeared alongside Norway’s prime minister and addressed European security concerns linked to the war.

European officials have repeatedly argued that any settlement must address issues such as accountability for war crimes, the future of sanctions, and security guarantees for Ukraine. While Ms Kallas did not set out a detailed menu of demands on Tuesday, her references to abducted children and limits on Russian forces point to two areas where European governments consider there to be scope for concrete, verifiable commitments as part of any broader settlement.

Her proposal now moves into the EU’s internal negotiating machinery, where member states will test whether they can agree on a common set of demands and on how to link them to Europe’s leverage — particularly sanctions relief and the future disposition of frozen Russian assets.

The immediate political challenge is to establish unity among 27 governments with differing threat perceptions and varying appetites for direct contact with Moscow. The strategic challenge, as Ms Kallas framed it, is to ensure that any peace arrangement is built around conditions that Europe can enforce and that Russia cannot easily circumvent.