Russia calls Europe a threat to peace while saying it is ready for EU talks

Russia sharpened its criticism of Europe’s support for Ukraine while saying it remains open to dialogue with the EU, as peace efforts remain stalled.

Russia accused Europe on Tuesday of becoming a danger to international security even as a senior Kremlin aide said Moscow remains open to dialogue with the European Union, a paired message that underscored how distant peace efforts over Ukraine remain.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told foreign envoys in Moscow that European military support for Kyiv was turning Europe into “a major threat to international peace and security.” He also argued that the United States was no longer acting as a neutral broker in efforts to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.

“As for the United States, judging by their actions, they appear to be abandoning any claim to the role of an objective mediator and are instead pursuing a course of escalating sanctions pressure on Russia,” Lavrov said.

The comments came as US-led talks on ending Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine remain effectively frozen, with President Donald Trump’s attention diverted toward the Middle East. They also followed European Council President António Costa’s surprise move last week to open a diplomatic channel with the Kremlin to test whether conditions for peace negotiations exist. Costa’s team concluded that such talks are not currently viable.

Yuri Ushakov, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Russia was ready for dialogue with the EU while repeating the Kremlin’s position that Europe, not Moscow, is prolonging the war in Ukraine. Ushakov did not address any possible contact with Costa’s team on Tuesday.

Instead, he accused Brussels of trying to undermine what Moscow describes as agreements reached in Anchorage, a reference to last year’s Alaska summit between Trump and Putin. That meeting ended without commitments toward a ceasefire in Ukraine. Moscow claims Washington agreed to a loosely defined “Anchorage formula” involving a freeze along the front line and limits on Western military support for Kyiv, but US officials have never acknowledged such understandings.

The diplomatic gap remains substantial. One of Moscow’s main preconditions for peace talks is that Ukraine withdraw from the eastern Donbas region, where Kyiv’s forces still control parts of the territory. Ukraine has ruled out surrendering it, leaving diplomacy caught between Russia’s stated readiness to talk and demands Kyiv has rejected.