War in Ukraine: Spanish PM calls for talks with Putin

by

“It is important to keep in touch with Putin,” Mr Sanchez said. “I am strongly in favor, for example, of the idea that the governments of France and Germany should take the initiative” to negotiate, he added, speaking to the American television network CNN.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on Wednesday called for negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“It is important to keep in touch with Putin,” Mr Sanchez said. “I am strongly in favor, for example, of the idea that the governments of France and Germany should take the initiative” to negotiate, he added, speaking to the American television network CNN.

He judged that there could be a revival of the so-called Normandy format (Germany, France, Russia, Ukraine), in the framework of which negotiations were held before the Russian army proceeded to invade Ukrainian territory on February 24, 2022.

Other EU member states would support Paris and Berlin if they took such an initiative, Mr Sanchez assured.

Asked if Mr Putin would see the West’s willingness to negotiate as “weakness”, the Spanish prime minister (PSOE) replied “I don’t think so”.

Earlier, Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Alvarez expressed reservations about his country’s possible delivery of Leopard 2 heavy tanks to Ukraine.

“This possibility is not on the table at the moment,” Spain’s foreign minister said at the World Economic Forum, Spanish news agency Europa Press reported.

The statement comes amid debate in the West over Kiev’s request to send Western heavy tanks to its army.

Mr Alvarez did not rule out the possibility of such weapons being sent later, referring to a meeting of the allies at the US base in Ramstein on Friday. Spain would prefer the allies to decide “together and united”, added the Spanish Foreign Minister.

“Spain’s position in this war is that we are doing what we think is best to help the Ukrainians defend their national sovereignty and territorial integrity and bring peace back to the country as soon as possible,” he added.

The positions of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain probably reflect the dimensions of opinion in the government. The centre-left PSOE governs in partnership with the Unidas Podemos party, which is generally critical of arms supplies to Ukraine.

In June, according to media reports, Madrid was weighing the delivery of older Leopard tanks to Ukraine. It has 53 such tanks, decommissioned in Tharagotha ​​since 2012.

But after several weeks of scenario-building, Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles revealed in August that these tanks are beyond repair.

Spain has 108 Leopard 2 A4S and 229 Leopard 2Es. These latter are a version of the 2 A6s, adapted to the specifications of the Spanish armed forces.

You May Also Like

Recommended for you