Kremlin propaganda has been spreading the disinformation claiming that “the goal of the European countries is to keep the war in Ukraine going.”.
“The European leaders cannot be involved in peace negotiations for Ukraine because they want the war to continue,” says the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, amid reports that the Americans have decided to exclude the Europeans.
Lavrov reacted to the words of the President of Finland, Alexander Stubb, at the Munich Security Conference, who supported the idea of rearming Ukraine to help the country fight against the Russian invasion. Russian propaganda media, pro-Russian outlets, and social media accounts in Europe widely circulated Lavrov’s statement.
“The European philosophy hasn’t gone anywhere. So, I don’t know what they should do at the negotiating table. If they are going to beg for some sly ideas about freezing the conflict—while what they really want is to continue the war—then why invite them there?” Lavrov stated after talks with the Serbian Foreign Minister Marko Djuric.
However, the reality is that the EU supports Ukraine’s defensive efforts for a lasting peace in Ukraine and supports Ukraine’s territorial integrity according to international law. The goal of Russia’s disinformation campaign is to discredit the European leaders and blame the war in Ukraine on the EU policies, basically to shift the blame for the war started by Putin regime.
Claiming that the EU wants war in Ukraine is false for several reasons. First, the European Union has consistently advocated for peaceful solutions and a diplomatic resolution to the conflict since the Franco-German mediation of the Donbas war in 2014-2015.
Thanks to that mediation, the hot phase of the war was frozen. By imposing sanctions against Russia and supporting Ukraine, the EU has sought to weaken Moscow’s war machine. The EU has imposed a series of sanctions against individuals and organizations and restricted access to essential technologies and markets.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU has provided Kyiv with economic, humanitarian, and military aid worth more than 88 billion euros. The EU is making a substantial contribution to strengthening Ukraine’s resilience and has established a new Ukraine Facility, intended to provide the country with stable financial support of up to 50 billion euros over the period 2024-2027.
The EU’s commitment demonstrates the EU’s intention to promote stability and peace in the region, not perpetuate conflict. The EU’s position has been consistent with the UN principles that allow support for an aggressed party.
In the context of the peace talks initiated by the Trump administration, the EU wants to obtain a lasting peace for Ukraine, not one that poses security risks for the European continent. Moreover, the EU cannot contribute to the future security architecture of Europe based on discussions and decisions made by the Russian and American sides.
According to the European Council President Antonio Costa, the EU’s involvement in these negotiations is crucial to address European security as a whole and to ensure stability on the continent. The war in Ukraine is not only a regional issue but also a global threat, especially from Russia, Costa said. France, Germany, Spain and other states have insisted that Ukraine and the EU be directly involved in the peace talks on the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Russia initiated the war by first attacking Ukraine in Crimea and Donbas in 2014, followed by an all-out war in 2022. So, this war can be stopped at any time following a decision taken unilaterally by Moscow by withdrawing troops from Ukraine.
The UN has repeatedly asked Russia to withdraw its troops from the territory of the Ukrainian state, condemning the violation of international law. From Moscow’s point of view, however, the end of the war would mean the end of Ukrainian resistance, a capitulation following which Kyiv would hand over territories, give up at least part of its decision-making independence, and remain constantly vulnerable to Russia, without well-equipped armed forces and without security guarantees.
Lavrov’s intervention, on the same day when his participation in the talks with the US delegation in Saudi Arabia was announced, took place in the context of controversial signals given by Washington regarding the participation of Ukraine and EU states in the peace negotiations.
Thus, President Trump’s special envoy for the war in Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, has said that the Europeans will not be involved in the negotiations, but the Ukrainians will. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that Ukraine and Europe will be at the table for “real negotiations,” which would mean that the initial round in Saudi Arabia is just a means to test the field.
The US’s contradictory positions on the negotiations have generated concern in both Ukraine and Europe, especially as they have been doubled by other statements/actions by high-ranking US officials. Thus, the US has requested exploitation rights for hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Ukrainian mineral resources but refused to provide security guarantees in exchange for them.
The US Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, said that Ukraine would have to give up its territories and NATO aspirations—which is exactly Russia’s position—and Vice President J.D. Vance launched a scathing attack on European democracies, which included voicing his support for Germany’s far-right AfD.
