Putin pushes Europe's security demands into Ukraine talks, exposing continent's divisions

Key points

• Russia wants Europe's post-Cold War security arrangements renegotiated as part of a Ukraine peace package.
• US envoy Jared Kushner said naming one European spokesperson would be a bigger achievement than a seat at the table.
• European officials reject any Kremlin role in deciding the continent's security, so the dispute over who speaks for Europe remains unresolved.

Russia is pressing to put Europe's post-Cold War security arrangements on the table as part of any settlement of the war in Ukraine, forcing European capitals to decide who speaks for them. Estonia's leader dismissed the demand as "mind games."

Russian negotiators made clear in talks with Ukraine and the United States that they want Europe to change how it protects itself as a condition of ending the war, according to The New York Times. Moscow has a record of pushing to pare back NATO operations near its border, the same report said.

European officials have rejected those suggestions and insist the continent, not the Kremlin, decides its security. Moscow has said European capitals should name a single envoy if they hope to be included in the discussions. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Vladimir Putin does not want to talk to her because she is "strong."

US envoy Jared Kushner said on Thursday that naming a single European spokesperson would be a bigger achievement than Russia agreeing to include Europe in the negotiation. His remark reflected a harsh reality for Europe, one that The New York Times described as potentially embarrassing: internal divisions could cost European officials time and influence.

This week, Kushner and fellow US negotiator Steve Witkoff lobbied to bring Europe into the talks once Moscow argued during Emirati-hosted discussions that the security of postwar European territory should be on the agenda. Europe has waited on the margins of the Ukraine negotiations for months, eyeing a seat, and now expects one without agreeing on who should sit in it.

European leaders met in Dublin as they weighed the offer, and the question of a single representative remains open. Russia's push has turned a question about a seat into a dispute over the terms of Europe's own security.

Sources: Bloomberg, Financial Times, The New York Times