The key facts

  • The Financial Times reports that European diplomats at the talks in Abu Dhabi will resist a revision of Europe's security architecture under US leadership.
  • European governments insist: security discussions outside the Ukrainian topic — only after the peace talks with Kyiv are concluded.
  • German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul previously stated that Europe needs not a new, but a restored security architecture.

The European position at the talks in Abu Dhabi

European diplomats plan to prevent any discussion of a new European security architecture at the upcoming talks in Abu Dhabi. This is reported by the Financial Times citing information set out in the publication: the Europeans' presence at the event is aimed at thwarting Russia's attempts to use the talks, led by the United States, to revise the continent's security architecture.

What the disagreement is about

As the Financial Times notes, European governments insist that any discussions of European security issues not related to Ukraine should take place only after the peace talks with Kyiv are concluded, not simultaneously with them. Thus, the dispute is not about the talks themselves, but about their agenda and sequence: the Europeans seek to tie the issue of the continent's security to the outcome of the Ukrainian track and to prevent it from being discussed separately in a format where the United States and Russia play the leading role.

Context of previous statements

The position at the talks in Abu Dhabi is consistent with recent public statements by European politicians. German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul stated that Europe does not need a new security architecture, as Russia wants to convince it: in his words, the continent needs the restoration of the existing architecture. In addition, earlier the office of Volodymyr Zelensky spoke of readiness for 'normal talks' with Russia.