Kaja Kallas warns against walking into Russian ‘trap’ as EU ministers meet for talks – Europe live

EU chief diplomat says ‘not much happening’ in talks as she cautions against focus on personalities rather than strategy

The EU’s foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, has warned against walking into a Russian “trap” by focusing on personalities rather than issues in potential talks to end the war in Ukraine.

Her comments came as the bloc’s foreign ministers gathered in Cyprus for informal talks to discuss what would their main asks of Russia be in any peace negotiations.

“It’s a trap that Russia wants us to walk into, that we discuss who talks to them, and they are already picking who is suitable, who is not. Let’s not walk into that trap.

Negotiations are always a team effort. You have good cops, you have bad cops, you have a strategy [on] how you go to the table, so that is why the substance is much more important.”

“This is what Russia does. Because it’s not really gaining ground on the battlefield, what they are doing now is really increasing the terrorist attacks, because you can’t really describe it in other ways, creating fear inside the society.

It hasn’t worked for four years, and I don’t think that it’s going to work now.”