Former European and Russian Officials Held Secret Talks on Ukraine
Bloomberg reveals informal diplomatic channels that could shape future peace negotiations, while Kyiv says there is no official mandate.
Bloomberg reveals informal diplomatic channels that could shape future peace negotiations, while Kyiv says there is no official mandate.
Former senior officials from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Russia met in Vienna in July to discuss behind closed doors possible terms for peace negotiations regarding the war in Ukraine. Bloomberg reported, and Index.hr relayed, that the gathering included Tim Barrow, former UK National Security Adviser, Markus Ederer, former German State Secretary and EU Ambassador to Russia, and Pierre Vimont, a diplomat with extensive experience from France and Europe.
The identity of the former Kremlin official reportedly involved in the talks has not been disclosed. Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not respond to Bloomberg's request for comment, while the German Foreign Ministry said it had no information about the meeting, according to Russia's TASS news agency.
Such meetings are not official negotiations nor do they bind the governments of the countries from which the participants come. They allow former officials and experts to explore potential solutions to the conflict without a formal mandate, and they can then relay their assessments to current authorities. According to Bloomberg, the initiative for these talks came from the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, a Swiss organization specializing in discreet mediation in armed conflicts.
Ederer and Vimont are members of the organization's board, which has been active in Ukraine since 2014. Following the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, the Centre participated in establishing channels for civilian evacuations.
Vienna was not the only location for such contacts. In Baku, separate meetings between former officials from Germany and Russia took place in mid-July 2026. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev later acknowledged that the meeting had occurred but emphasized that his authorities had not been aware of it in advance.
Following the events in Baku, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry stated that these talks do not have Kyiv's official support nor are they part of the formal peace process. Ukraine's European allies publicly assert that any peace agreement requires full participation from Kyiv, and that Europe's security cannot be discussed without the presence of European countries.
The revelation of secret meetings comes after Bloomberg reported on June 17, 2026, that one of the key advisers to European Council President António Costa had two phone conversations with a senior Russian official close to the Russian president. This news angered some EU member states. According to DPA, Costa's office confirmed the existence of contacts with Russia aimed at opening diplomatic channels, but without substantive exchange of views or negotiations.
Russian leadership has repeatedly stated that Russia is open to negotiations with the European Union, but that Europe cannot act as a mediator because by supplying weapons to Ukraine, it is a party to the conflict, TASS reports.
