Meloni urges Europe to talk to Russia, sees no swift return to G8

ROME, Jan 9 (Reuters) – Europe should reopen dialogue with Russia, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Friday, adding that it was far too soon to discuss welcoming Moscow back into the Group ‍of Eight leading nations.

Meloni said she agreed with French President Emmanuel Macron, who recently called for Europe to engage with Moscow as efforts continue to end the war in Ukraine.

“I think Macron is right on this. I believe the time has come for Europe to also speak with Russia,” she said at her traditional New ‌Year’s press conference.

“Because if Europe decides to take part ‌in this phase of negotiations by talking only to one of the two sides, I fear that in the end the positive contribution it can make will be limited,” she added.

Talks to bring the almost four-year war to an end have ​accelerated since November. However, Moscow has yet to signal willingness to make concessions after Kyiv pushed for changes to a U.S. proposal that initially ‍backed Russia’s main demands.

Moscow has also given no ​public sign that it would accept a peace deal ​with the security guarantees envisaged by Ukraine’s allies, including having Western troops inside ‍Ukraine.

Meloni said the European Union should appoint an envoy to deal directly with Russian President Vladimir Putin and avoid confusion.

“If we were to make the mistake of deciding, on the one hand, to reopen dialogue with Russia, and on the other, to proceed in a disorganised way, we would be ‍doing Putin a favour,” she said. “We have had this problem from the start. Too many voices speaking, too many formats,” she added.

Among proposals put forward by the ‍United States in November ‍was for Russia to be readmitted to the Group ​of Seven wealthy nations club, reviving the now-defunct G8.

Meloni ​said it ⁠was “absolutely premature” to talk about welcoming Russia back into ‌the G7 fold. She also reiterated that Italy had no intention of sending troops to Ukraine to help guarantee any peace deal.

France and Britain last month signed a declaration of intent on the future deployment of multinational forces into Ukraine once a ceasefire is reached.

(Reporting by Giselda Vagnoni and Alvise Armellini, editing by Giulia ⁠Segreti and Crispian Balmer)