THE HAGUE – Wadephul: No point in dialogue with Russia without readiness to negotiate

THE HAGUE, September 28 — German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said on Monday there is no point in further high-level talks with Russia if Moscow does not show genuine readiness to negotiate, as DPA reports.

His remarks came after his meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday in New York.

“Further meetings only make sense if Russia is seriously ready to negotiate,” Wadephul said during a meeting with Dutch Foreign Minister Tom Berendsen in The Hague.

Wadephul was also asked whether further direct meetings should take place, including a possible meeting between German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The German minister said Lavrov’s public statements after the meeting showed that Moscow is not currently ready for serious negotiations.

According to Wadephul, direct talks yield no results if Russia continues to maintain its stance on continuing the war.

He also said one of the aims of the meeting with Lavrov was to stress that Europe must have a role in negotiations to end the war.

However, decisions about Ukraine’s future, he said, must be taken by the Ukrainians themselves.

Wadephul called for greater international pressure on Russia so that Moscow accepts serious negotiations.

The Dutch foreign minister expressed the same position.

“Russia must sit down at the negotiating table. Our strategy is more pressure on Russia,” Berendsen said.

The Wadephul–Lavrov meeting lasted more than 20 minutes and took place on Saturday in New York, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

It was the first bilateral meeting between the German and Russian foreign ministers since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

After the meeting, Lavrov downplayed its significance, saying it had brought no results or new developments.