Belgium continues to support Ukraine and increase pressure on Russia, but does not consider it normal that the European Union is not at the negotiating table. This was stated by its Prime Minister Bart de Wever, arriving at the EU leaders’ summit on 19 March, Radio Liberty correspondent reports from Brussels.
“I noted that I do not consider it normal that we are financing this war and yet we are not represented at the negotiating table. This is not a normal situation. We must participate in the negotiations to reach an acceptable peace,” de Wever said.
On 14 March, in an interview published by the newspaper L’Echo, the head of the Belgian government, which in December blocked a decision to provide Ukraine with a multi-billion dollar loan from frozen assets, called on Europe to reach an agreement with Russia to end the war in Ukraine. De Wever called the strategy to support it and increase pressure on Russia untenable given the absence of the United States.
“Given that we cannot put pressure on Putin by sending weapons to Ukraine and we cannot strangle its economy without the support of the United States, there is only one way left: to make an agreement,” de Wever said in an interview.
The Belgian prime minister also spoke of the need for negotiations to restore access to cheap energy, calling it “common sense.” At the same time, the top official noted that we should not be naive about Russian leader Vladimir Putin – the Belgian prime minister supported the rearmament of Europe and the deployment of troops on its eastern borders.
Speaking to reporters on 19 March, de Wever said he had a long-term perspective in mind.
“When I talk about normalisation of relations, I mean a situation where there will be an acceptable and sustainable peace with Russia. This is already a long-term perspective,” the head of the Belgian government said.
Earlier, the Financial Times, citing unnamed officials and diplomats, reported that US attempts to mediate a peaceful settlement of the war between Russia and Ukraine had reached a dead end as US President Donald Trump was losing interest in the talks.
One of the reasons cited is the US-Israeli war against Iran, which has diverted Washington’s attention from the Ukrainian direction.
Also, according to the Financial Times, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov abruptly rebuffed French representatives who were trying to persuade the Kremlin to allow Europe into the peace talks.
A senior European diplomat said that French presidential advisers Emmanuel Bonne and Bertrand Buchwalter travelled to Moscow in February for talks with Ushakov. The Russian presidential aide allegedly responded to a request for EU representatives to attend talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States by using profanity.
“Sorry, actually, no we don’t, fuck you,” the Financial Times quoted Ushakov as saying (Sorry, actually, no we don’t, fuck you).
Commenting on the meeting, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Financial Times that European countries “do not want to help the peace process”. “When the French representative arrived, he did not bring any positive signals,” Peskov said.
He said the Europeans were “spending all their efforts to persuade the Ukrainians to continue the war,” but Russia was “confident that it is winning” and “the dynamics on the front” for the Russian army were positive.
The first rounds of talks between Russia, Ukraine and the United States were held on 23-24 January and 4-5 February in the United Arab Emirates, while the third round was held on 17-18 February in Switzerland. The next meeting was planned for early March, but the hostilities in the Middle East prevented it from being organised.