French President Emmanuel Macron’s top adviser was in Moscow on Tuesday for talks with Russian officials, a source familiar with the meeting and two diplomatic sources told Reuters.
Emmanuel Bonne, who has visited Kosovo several times as part of the French mission for the Kosovo-Serbia dialogue, was a co-author of the Franco-German plan.
But the same person has been authorized for talks in Moscow, according to Reuters sources, on issues related to Ukraine.
The first source said that Emmanuel Bonne, who has been head of Macron’s diplomatic cell since 2019, had met with officials in the Kremlin.
The French presidency neither confirmed nor denied the talks, but said: “As the President said during his visit yesterday at the door, there are discussions at a technical level with full transparency and in consultation with President Zelenskiy and key European colleagues.”
The two diplomatic sources said that allies had been notified of the initiative and that Bonne had held talks with Yuri Ushakov, a senior aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Macron said in December that Europeans would have to re-engage in direct talks with Putin if recent US-led efforts to broker a peace deal in Ukraine fail.
European leaders, wary of Putin’s military ambitions, have been criticized for their exclusion from peace talks led by the administration of US President Donald Trump, forced instead to support Ukraine’s negotiating positions from the sidelines.
Macron told reporters on Tuesday that efforts are being made to resume dialogue with Putin.
“It is being prepared and so there are discussions taking place at a technical level,” he said, adding that this is being done in consultation with Ukraine.
“It is important that Europeans restore their channels of discussion.”
