Former high-ranking officials from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Russia met in Vienna in July to discuss possible conditions for peace negotiations regarding Ukraine, sources familiar with the situation told Bloomberg. They refused to reveal the name of the former Kremlin official who participated in the discussions.
From the West, representatives of the so-called “European troika” were present, consisting of the countries that offer Ukraine the most active diplomatic support: Tim Barrow, former British national security advisor; Markus Ederer, former German state secretary and Pierre Vimont, French diplomat.
Unofficial discussions between former officials and representatives of analysis centers, including from countries that consider themselves adversaries, are a common practice in international relations.
Participants in such meetings act independently of their governments and try to analyze possible ways of solving difficult problems. Subsequently, they can convey to their governments their own conclusions and assessments resulting from the discussions.
The consultations in Vienna were organized, according to one of the Bloomberg sources, at the initiative of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (HD), a Swiss analysis center that presents itself as “a pioneer of discreet, impartial, and independent mediation in conflicts”.
Ederer and Vimont are part of the supervisory board of the center.
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