European Council President António Costa has defended his decision to open a diplomatic channel with the Kremlin, after the surprise move blindsided several European Union leaders and overshadowed their summit in Brussels on June 18.
Costa told the 27 he had asked his office to test whether conditions existed for peace talks over Ukraine, a possibility his own team concluded was not currently viable.
His chief of cabinet, Pedro Lourtie, had held several phone calls with a senior aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, understood to be Yuri Ushakov, although Costa’s office did not confirm the official’s identity.
