Former officials from Europe and Russia met in Vienna to discuss negotiations on Ukraine - media
Former high-ranking officials from the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Russia held a closed meeting in Vienna in July, during which they discussed possible conditions for starting peace negotiations to end Russia's war against Ukraine.
This is reported by Bloomberg citing sources familiar with the content of the confidential contacts. The participants included former National Security Adviser of the United Kingdom Tim Barrow, former State Secretary of the German Foreign Office Markus Ederer, and experienced French diplomat Pierre Vimont. The sources did not reveal the name of the former Kremlin representative.
Barrow headed the UK’s national security system from 2022 to 2024 and previously served as British Ambassador to Ukraine and Russia. Ederer was EU Ambassador to Moscow, and Vimont headed the executive body of the European External Action Service.
The meeting was organized at the initiative of the Swiss Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, also known as HD. Ederer holds the position of Vice-Chair of the organization’s Supervisory Board, and Vimont is its Honorary Member. The Centre specializes in private mediation and facilitation of contacts between parties to armed conflicts.
Such contacts belong to so-called second-track diplomacy. They are usually held without an official government mandate and allow former officials and experts to test possible compromises that could later be conveyed to current government representatives.
The German Foreign Office stated that it was not aware of the Vienna consultations and did not task Ederer with conducting negotiations. The British Government underscored their support for achieving a just and lasting peace for Ukraine but did not comment on the activities of former officials. The French Foreign Ministry declined to comment, and the Kremlin did not respond to Bloomberg’s request.
The outlet’s sources did not specify whether the meeting was part of a broader plan by the UK, France and Germany to establish direct contact with Moscow. One source said that London reacted positively to the initiative, and another – that Paris was aware of it taking place.
Similar unofficial contacts could have taken place in Baku in July. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that former German officials Ronald Pofalla and Matthias Platzeck were in the Azerbaijani capital at the same time as former Russian Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov and the Head of the Russian Presidential Council on Human Rights, Valery Fadeev.
According to Aliyev, the Azerbaijani authorities did not receive communications about the negotiations and learned about them from a publication by The Times. He noted that he could not definitively confirm that the meeting took place; however, data on border crossings by its likely participants gives reason to believe that it did.
European states are attempting to revive diplomatic channels as negotiations brokered by the United States are halted. Moscow demands that Ukraine cede the unoccupied part of the Donetsk region, while Kyiv rejects territorial concessions and insists on security guarantees.
According to Bloomberg, US President Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy last week discussed the possibility of intensifying the negotiation process. Representatives of the American president, Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner, could visit Kyiv in the near future.
At the same time, some Western officials oppose intensifying contacts with the Kremlin at this specific time. They highlight that Russia is intensifying its missile and drone attacks on Ukrainian cities, and that Vladimir Putin has not yet demonstrated a readiness to renounce his maximalist demands. In their opinion, allies should first and foremost increase military assistance to Ukraine and the pressure on Moscow.
Based on materials from:Bloomberg, the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, the President of Azerbaijan
