Austrian chancellor offers to mediate peace talks on Ukraine

Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has stated that his country is prepared to offer a platform for talks regarding Ukraine.

“We take note of the Russian president’s statements regarding his openness for peace talks with Ukraine. Any negotiations must take place without preconditions and at eye level,” Caliber.Az quotes Nehammer as saying on his X page.

The chancellor then said, “Austria will be ready to support a just and lasting peace based on international law and to serve as a venue for negotiations as the seat of the OSCE.”

On July 4, at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Kazakhstan, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan proposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin that Türkiye could help mediate an end to the war.

However, Putin's spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, dismissed the notion, saying that Erdoğan couldn't act as a mediator, though he didn't provide specific reasons.