Armin Laschet, chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the German Bundestag and a member of the CDU, welcomed the fact that representatives from Ukraine, the United States and Russia are meeting in Abu Dubai to discuss a possible end to the Ukraine war.
“Russians and Ukrainians speaking again in the United Arab Emirates is a good signal. It hasn’t happened for a long time” Laschet told German broadcasters RTL and ntv on Friday. He added that many past talks had collapsed, that Russia had not made significant moves, and that he still hopes each of the new conversations will prove successful and bring about a cease‑fire.
Laschet said that if the security guarantees discussed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and former U.S. President Donald Trump in Davos could be made solid enough for both Zelensky and Ukraine to agree to a peace deal, every opportunity should be seized.
When asked how close a peace deal is, he replied, “No one knows for certain. We Europeans are especially uncertain because, unlike the United States, we are not talking directly with Russia”. He commented that the peace plans developed in German Chancellor’s office with Zelensky, Washington and European leaders were often forwarded to Moscow through intermediaries such as Mr. Kushner or Mr. Witkoff.
Laschet stressed that Europe must again become active in the negotiations. “If Europe truly wants to act with confidence, as it constantly claims, it has to engage with Russia. We are not doing that at the moment, so we are forced to rely solely on second‑hand information from Mr. Witkoff”.