Overview
- Estonia’s foreign minister, Margus Tsahkna, said President Alar Karis’s call for dialogue with Russia breaks with Estonia’s policy and risks giving Vladimir Putin room to set ultimatums.
- Finnish President Alexander Stubb agreed that talks with Russia will be needed at some point, but said any contact must be done together with a clear mandate rather than by single states.
- Karis has argued Europe missed a chance to force talks in spring 2022 after Russia’s pullback from Kyiv and says the EU should now prepare a post‑war model for relations, while denying he urged Ukraine to cede territory.
- The Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov says Moscow seeks dialogue with Europe and claims Europe often does not respond to such offers.
- EU work on a new, 21st package of sanctions against Russia is underway, signaling that pressure on Moscow remains the main policy even as leaders debate future engagement.