Politico: Some European countries unhappy with Costa’s contacts with Russia

Contacts between European Council President António Costa and Russia have sparked a negative reaction from several European governments, Politico reports, citing sources.

According to the report, discussions at the EU summit in Brussels revealed that many European leaders were not informed in advance about the contacts with Moscow.

One source said Costa’s team had pre-notified the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and the European Commission about the calls. However, two other sources claimed that Berlin was not informed beforehand.

Politico noted that some EU leaders only learned about the contacts after media reports emerged, while Baltic states were described as being “furious” over what they viewed as an attempt to re-establish communication with Russia.

On June 17, several major Western media outlets reported “several phone calls” made by representatives of Costa to Moscow, adding that no “substantive issues” were discussed during the conversations.

By Vugar Khalilov