European Council President Antonio Costa has opened a line of communication with the Kremlin to explore whether peace negotiations over the conflict in Ukraine might be possible, according to a Bloomberg News report citing unnamed sources.
Sources told the news service that a senior adviser to Costa conducted two preparatory telephone conversations with a senior Russian official who is known to have close ties to President Vladimir Putin. The contacts were described as exploratory in nature.
Costa has publicly said that the European Union will at some point need to confront shared security concerns with Russia. Within the bloc, however, member states are split over how and when such engagement should occur.
Several EU countries have proposed designating a special envoy to take the lead on negotiations. That proposal has become contentious, particularly after President Putin suggested former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder - a figure who has longstanding links to the Russian state energy company Gazprom.
Meanwhile, Germany, France and the United Kingdom are conducting parallel efforts to align strategy with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on any approach to direct engagement with Putin.
European officials cited a combination of military and economic developments that they say could make talks more likely. Those factors include limited Russian advances on the battlefield, an uptick in Ukrainian strikes into Russian territory, and growing economic strains on Moscow.
Officials additionally noted that a possible peace agreement between the United States and Iran - if it occurred - could reduce global oil prices, which would in turn put further downward pressure on Russia's energy revenues.
Requests for comment were made to representatives of Costa and to Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for President Putin. According to the reporting, Costa's representatives and Peskov either declined to comment or did not respond to the inquiries.
Context and next steps - The contacts described were preliminary and framed as an initial step to gauge whether discussions could be possible. EU positions remain divided, and multiple national-level efforts are under way to coordinate policy with Kyiv.