Russian Foreign Ministry says no progress in Russia-Europe relations

At the moment, nothing points to progress in relations between Russia and the European Union (EU). This was stated by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko on February 18.

"Nothing indicates that there can be any breakthrough," the diplomat said, his words reported by TASS.

Grushko recalled that European countries are demanding their participation in the negotiations between Russia and the United States on the settlement of the conflict in Ukraine.

"This is simply astounding, since for many years they have been at this table [negotiations]," he noted, emphasizing that the role of the European Union in the talks is excluded.

Undivided weight: what the EU is willing to do to maintain influence in the Ukrainian issue

And why Russia does not want to see the Europeans at the negotiating table to resolve the conflict

The day before, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the participation of EU representatives in the talks on Ukraine in Riyadh seems useless in light of the current situation, as they have repeatedly shown that they do not intend to change their position on the conflict.

At the same time, former Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told Izvestiya that Europe was far from a common decision on ending the conflict in Ukraine. On February 15, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte urged EU countries to put forward concrete proposals on Ukraine instead of complaining about whether they would be at the negotiating table or not.

At the same time, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on February 12 that Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a phone conversation with U.S. leader Donald Trump that the root causes of the conflict must be addressed.

The next day, Trump announced a meeting of representatives of Russia, the United States and Ukraine in Saudi Arabia. On Tuesday, February 18, high-level bilateral talks between representatives of Russia and the United States began in Saudi Arabia.