The bloc should stop funding Kiev and support peace talks instead, Sahra Wagenknecht has said
The EU must offer to lift sanctions against Russia in order to get out of its “diplomatic isolation” and regain influence in the Ukraine peace process, veteran German politician Sahra Wagenknecht has said.
In a post on X on Thursday, she wrote that German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul was not even aware that the US had come up with a plan to settle the Ukraine conflict. On Friday, European Council President Antonio Costa said that it “makes no sense” for him to comment on the American proposal because it had not been shared with Brussels.
“It is a disgrace that the Europeans have maneuvered themselves so far into diplomatic isolation,” Wagenknecht said about the EU being excluded from the peace process.
The politician, who stepped down as the head of her Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance party earlier this month, slammed European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen over her reported call on EU member-states to cover Kiev’s financial and military needs for 2026 and 2027, estimated at €135.7 billion ($156.4 billion). It is an “outrage against German and European taxpayers,” she said.
Wagenknecht argued that the Ukraine conflict is “unwinnable” and that instead of continuing to fund it, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and von der Leyen and the bloc’s other leaders “should finally support peace negotiations.”
“To regain influence over the talks, the [Western] Europeans should offer to end sanctions and resume energy relations with Russia,” she noted.
Wadephul said on Friday that he believes the US proposal to be not a “definitive plan,” but rather as “a list of topics that urgently need to be discussed between Ukraine and Russia.” EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas reiterated her stance that any peace plan “must have Ukraine and the Europeans on board.”
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When asked about the US proposal later in the day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said “there are certain considerations from the American side [regarding the settlement of the Ukraine conflict], but nothing specific is being discussed at the moment.” However, he stressed that Russia remains eager to look for a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
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