Ex-European Officials Met Unnamed Kremlin Veteran for Secret Ukraine Talks

Former senior officials from three of Ukraine’s leading European allies secretly met an unidentified former Kremlin official in Vienna to explore possible conditions for peace negotiations. Bloomberg reported that the private meeting took place in July and included former officials from Britain, France, Germany, and Russia, according to people familiar with the discussions.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. The Western participants were Tim Barrow, a former British national security adviser; Markus Ederer, a former German state secretary and EU ambassador to Russia; and Pierre Vimont, a veteran French and EU diplomat. However, Bloomberg’s sources declined to identify the former Kremlin official who participated. Such meetings, often described as informal or backchannel diplomacy, allow former officials and policy specialists to examine possible solutions to conflicts without committing their governments to a particular position. Participants may later share their assessments with current officials. The talks were initiated by the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), a Swiss-based conflict mediation organization, one of Bloomberg’s sources said. HD describes itself as an independent nonprofit that uses discreet mediation to prevent and resolve armed conflicts. It has worked in Ukraine since 2014 and says it helped establish civilian evacuation channels after Russia launched its full-scale invasion in 2022. Other Topics of Interest EU Chief Slams Russian ‘Atrocities’ After Kyiv Attack EU chief Ursula von der Leyen condemned Russia’s latest deadly attack on Kyiv and said Ukraine will receive another €1.4 billion in profits generated from frozen Russian assets. Ederer and Vimont serve on the organization’s board. Bloomberg said Vienna was one of at least two locations where former European and Russian officials had met privately in recent months. A separate meeting involving former German and Russian officials reportedly took place in Baku, Azerbaijan. The Kremlin has not publicly commented on the reported Vienna discussions. Kyiv Post is Ukraine’s first and oldest English news organization, reporting since 1995. Its international reach – 97% of readers are outside of Ukraine – make it truly Ukraine’s global voice.