Russian diplomat discusses Ukraine war with French, German and British ambassadors

MOSCOW, June 11 (Reuters) – Ambassadors from France, Germany and Britain in Moscow met Russia’s deputy foreign minister on Thursday to condemn the latest escalation in the war in Ukraine and reaffirm support for U.S.- and European-backed talks between Kyiv and Moscow, France’s foreign ministry said. 

The meeting followed talks in London last Sunday, where the leaders of France, Germany and Britain — the so‑called E3 — met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and backed his call for a ceasefire.

Russia’s foreign ministry said Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin accused the three countries of pursuing a “destructive policy” on the Ukraine war.

Speaking after the Moscow meeting, French foreign ministry spokesperson Pascal Confavreux said the ambassadors had used the talks to restate their concerns “to deplore the recent escalation by Russia and the intensification of its information manipulation campaigns in the context of its aggression against Ukraine.”

Such meetings between Western diplomats and senior Russian officials have become rare since the invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian foreign ministry said Galuzin presented the diplomats with “an objective assessment of the destructive policy pursued by their countries’ leaderships” which it said was aimed at encouraging Kyiv to continue the war with Western backing.

At Sunday’s meeting in Downing Street, the European leaders and Zelenskiy agreed that the current line of contact between Russian and Ukrainian forces should be the starting point for talks.

They also backed legally binding security guarantees for Ukraine, including the possible deployment of a multinational force, and said frozen Russian financial assets should remain immobilised until Moscow compensates Kyiv for war damages.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has stuck to his hardline stance on the war, but suggested last week that U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposals for peace could help end the fighting. 

Putin told foreign reporters in St Petersburg that he was willing to talk to European politicians but that they were not the right people to broker an end to the war.

(Additional reporeting by John Irish in Paris; Writing by Lucy Papachristou and John Irish; Editing by Mark Trevelyan, William Maclean and Ros Russell)