European nations will not be invited to the next Russia-US-Ukraine peace talks, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on Wednesday, a day after the leaders of Finland and Norway called Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Moscow agreed in principle to participate in a fourth round of trilateral talks following last week’s meeting between Putin and US special envoy Steve Witkoff in St. Petersburg. Mid-November has been floated as a possible timeframe, with Abu Dhabi suggested as the venue.
“We have agreed that trilateral talks will resume, involving representatives from Russia, Ukraine, and the US,” Ushakov told Vesti. He stressed, however, that European representatives will not be invited.
“They can get there if they buy tickets. But no one intends to invite them to the negotiating table.”
Ushakov’s comments came a day after Finnish President Alexander Stubb and Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store called Putin for a conversation that reportedly lasted over an hour. The call sent a shockwave through Kiev’s staunchest backers, prompting Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen to condemn the Nordic leaders’ initiative, insisting it had not been coordinated with “European partners.”
However, neither Stubb nor Store brought any new proposals for settling the Ukraine conflict, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday when asked about the call.
Ukraine’s European backers have been excluded from all three rounds of trilateral negotiations so far and have increasingly sought direct participation in the peace process. They have, however, not tempered their demands, insisting on an unconditional ceasefire – something Moscow has repeatedly rejected, arguing that a temporary freeze to the fighting would only allow Kiev to rest and rearm with Western weapons.
Russia has also accused the EU of acting as the principal side arming Ukraine and prolonging the conflict. In April, Brussels approved €90 billion ($100 billion) to Ukraine for 2026–2027, financed via capital markets. Earlier this month, Vladimir Zelensky asked for a further €70 billion to keep Ukraine’s budget and military afloat through next year.
Moscow has maintained that Europe’s financial and military support for Ukraine makes it a party to the conflict, which Russia has long described as a NATO-led proxy war.
Putin has also described Europe’s claims of a Russian threat to justify its military buildup as “political schizophrenia.”
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