Armin Laschet, chair of the Bundestag’s Foreign Affairs Committee, welcomed the gathering in Abu Dhabi where Ukrainian, U.S. and Russian delegates are discussing an end to the conflict in Ukraine.
Laschet told RTL and ntv that it is a positive sign that Russians and Ukrainians are speaking in the United Arab Emirates again-a situation that has not occurred for a long time. He noted that many prior negotiations had stalled and that Russia had largely remained passive. Nevertheless, he expressed hope that each meeting would be successful and lead to a cessation of hostilities.
He added that if the security guarantees debated in Davos-between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selsknyj and former U.S. President Donald Trump-can be made stable enough for Kiev to accept peace, “every opportunity must be seized”.
When asked how close a peace agreement was, Laschet said the answer is unknown, especially for Europeans, because unlike the United States we do not directly engage with Russia. He described it as absurd that peace plans, developed in Germany’s chancellor office together with Selsknyj, the Americans and other European leaders, are always funneled through figures such as Kushner or Witkoff to Moscow.
Laschet called for Europe to take a more active role. He argued that if Europe wants to project confidence, it must initiate dialogue with Russia itself. Until then the continent will remain dependent on second‑hand information from intermediaries like Witkoff.
