French President Emmanuel Macron (L) welcomes UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to the Élysée Palace in Paris, 29 August 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE / ANDRE PAIN
European leaders are to hold an emergency summit in Paris in the coming week to formulate a joint approach to the US-Russia peace talks announced by US President Donald Trump Wednesday, as concern grows that both Ukraine and Europe are being shut out of the peace process, the BBC reported on Sunday.
The swiftly convened summit, which could happen as early as Monday, according to Reuters, was first mentioned at the Munich Security Conference by Poland’s Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski, though there has been no official confirmation from the Élysée Palace.
British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Saturday that the summit represented a “once-in-a-generation moment for our national security, where we engage with the reality of the world today and the threat we face from Russia.” Starmer went on to say that it was “clear Europe must take on a greater role in NATO” to be able to “face down the threat we face from Russia”.
Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine and Russia, Keith Kellogg, said on Saturday that he did not envisage Europe’s presence at peace talks, Newsweek reported, adding that only Ukraine and Russia would be represented, with the United States acting as an intermediary.
On Friday, Bloomberg reported that Vladimir Putin had assembled a team of diplomatic “heavyweights” to represent Moscow in potential peace talks, including Putin’s longtime foreign policy adviser Yury Ushakov and Russian spy chief Sergey Naryshkin.
