Kremlin Says France, Germany Show ‘No Desire’ to Mediate Ukraine Talks

The Kremlin said Monday, Oct. 24, that France and Germany were showing “no desire” to participate in mediation on the Ukrainian conflict and praised Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s offer to organise talks.

“Ankara takes a different position from that of Paris and Berlin… and has declared its readiness to continue mediation efforts,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

“(French President Emmanuel) Macron and (German Chancellor Olaf) Scholz — they have shown no desire listen to Russia’s position or participate in mediation efforts,” he added.

Over the weekend Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu called his American, French, Turkish and British counterparts.

Shoigu conveyed “concerns about possible provocations by Ukraine with the use of a ‘dirty bomb'”, according to the Russian side.

Shortly after, Washington, London and Paris issued a joint statement “rejecting Russia’s transparently false accusations about Ukraine”.

Meanwhile Erdogan has aimed to retain open dialogue with Russia and Western countries in Russia’s military offensive and emerged as a key mediator.

He has played a role in the only two tangible agreements between Moscow and Kyiv since the beginning of the offensive.

Turkey helped broker the deal that allowed grain exports to resume under the UN’s aegis in July.

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Erdogan also played a role in a prisoner swap in September, one of the largest exchanges.