Politico: EU says calls to Kremlin lasted 5,5 minutes

Two telephone conversations between the office of European Council President António Costa and senior Russian officials lasted a total of about five-and-a-half minutes and were intended solely to establish a diplomatic communication channel, an EU official familiar with the contacts told Politico.

Pedro Lourtie, head of Costa's office, made two calls to Yuri Ushakov, foreign policy adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, at Costa's direction. The first call lasted around five minutes and the second approximately 30 seconds, the official said.

“The contacts made at this point had the mere objective of establishing a channel of communication in order to, when the moment comes, have a diplomatic channel with Russia to defend EU’s interests,” the official said.

The official added that the exchange amounted to “diplomats doing their job.”

The contacts came to light ahead of the European Union summit on June 18–19, prompting criticism from some EU leaders, who reportedly viewed the outreach as poorly timed.

On June 24, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov confirmed that officials from Costa's office had contacted Moscow on two occasions. Responding to reported criticism from France, Lavrov said France and the United Kingdom had also sent their own "envoys" to Moscow and that Russia had received them.

Speaking at a press conference during the EU summit, Costa acknowledged that the calls had taken place but said the conditions for negotiations with Moscow had not yet been met. He said the purpose of the contacts was to establish a communication channel that could be used if circumstances allowed future dialogue.

By Sabina Mammadli