Putin says Russia has never opposed Ukraine’s EU membership, but draws line on Nato, as he meets with Slovakia’s Fico in Beijing
Over in Beijing, Russia’s Vladimir Putin has met with Slovak prime minister Robert Fico, with the pair giving brief statements to the media in the last few minutes.
In his remarks, Putin said that that Moscow had never opposed Ukraine’s potential membership of the European Union, and dismissed claims that Moscow was somehow planning to attack Europe.
He argued, in comments reported by Reuters, that with Nato expanding eastwards, the alliance wanted to absorb the entire post-Soviet space, and Russia simply had to defend its interests. He also repeated that Ukrainian membership of Nato would have been unacceptable to Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, walks with Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico, left, at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China. Photograph: Maxim Shemetov/AP
In his comments earlier, Fico spoke about the criticism he’s facing from other EU countries over his participation – as the only EU leader – in today’s Chinese event or the Victory Day parade in Moscow in May, but stressed he wanted to show his respect to all victims of the second world war.
Fico repeatedly stressed Slovakia’s commitment to the EU, but lamented that he didn’t understand some of its decisions.
In his comments, he pushed for normalisation of economic relations with Russia and criticised Ukraine for attacks on critical gas infrastructure carrying Russian gas to Slovakia and Hungary.
He also talked about the upcoming important decision on the EU’s membership for Ukraine and stressed that while“every country has the right to a European [membership] perspective,” “Ukraine must meet all conditions for entering the EU” so that “political criteria cannot prevail over preparation criteria” for joining the bloc.
He also repeated his longstanding position that Ukraine should not be allowed to join Nato.
Putin picked up on this theme in his remarks in response, saying Russia “highly values the independent foreign policy that you and your team, your government, are pursuing.”
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Nato’s Rutte says ‘two streams’ in diplomatic efforts focus on Putin-Zelenskyy meeting, Ukraine guarantees as he warns against increasing Russia threat
Nato’s secretary general Mark Rutte is in Luxembourg today, meeting with the country’s prime minister Luc Frieden and defence minister Yuriko Backe.
Nato secretary general Mark Rutte speaks at a press conference in Ukraine last month. Photograph: Global Images Ukraine/Getty Images
Appearing at a joint press conference, as has become customary for his public speeches, he spent a bit of time praising US president Donald Trump for “breaking the deadlock” on Ukraine and for convening talks in Washington two weeks ago.
She said that any lasting peace requires a stronger Ukrainian army, but also “security guarantees from Ukraine’s friends and partners, the US, Europe and others,” who are “defining them now; as you know, we are sitting together in many formats, also this week.”
“There’s a lot of work going on so that when Ukraine enters into these bilateral talks or trilateral talks, they do so with unbreakable backing, and therefore ensuring that Russia will honour whatever deal is agreed, and will never threaten Ukrainian territory again after the deal.”
But he conceded that “the bad news is we are still at the early stage of all of this,” while praising Trump once again for the process he’s made since his coming to the office in January.
He said the focus was on “two streams” of bringing Zelenskyy and Putin together “to start … discussing how to end the way,” and on agreeing between the Europeans and the US on long-term security guarantees that would prevent Russia from attacking Ukraine ever again.
Nato’s Rutte also responded to the suspected Russian GPS jamming incident affecting a plane carrying European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen in Bulgaria over the weekend.
He said that Nato was taking this “very seriously” and “stepping up [its response] when it comes to bybrid, cyber,” pointing to a number of incidents across Europe.
“I always hated the word hybrid, because it sounds so cuddly, but hybrid is exactly this: jamming commercial aeroplanes with potentially disastrous effects, an assassination attempt on a big industrialist in one of Nato allied countries, attacking the national health service in the United Kingdom.
These are not cuddly, small incidents. These are huge incidents which have a huge impact.”
He insisted that Nato was “working day and night to counter this, to prevent this, and to make sure that they will not do it again.”
Issuing a stark warning for Europe, he added when talking about the increase in defence spending:
“We are not only doing this for the audience of one [Trump], we are doing this because … the threat from the Russians is increasing every day.
Let’s not be naive about it. This might also involve one day Luxembourg, or my country, the Netherlands. We are all safe now. We think we are far away from Russia, but we are very close.
And the latest Russian missile technology, for example, the difference now between Lithuania on the frontline, and Luxembourg, The Hague or Madrid is 5 to 10 minutes.
That’s the time it takes this missile to reach these parts of Europe.
So we are all under direct threat from Russians, we are all on the eastern flank now whether you live in London or in Tallin … there is no difference any more.”
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‘Security situation in Europe will remain challenging,’ Finland’s Stubb warns as he says he’s ‘not very optimistic’ on framework for peace as Putin continues to ‘test everyone patience’
Meanwhile, Finland’s influential president Alexander Stubb has been speaking to reporters in Helsinki in the last half hour, alongside his Lithuanian counterpart, Gitanas Nausėda.
Lithuania’s president Gitanas Nausėda (left) and Finland’s president Alexander Stubb (right) during their joint presser after the meeting at the Presidential Castle in Helsinki, Finland. Photograph: Antti Aimo-Koivisto/AP
Stubb, who is one of the European leaders with best working relationship with US president Trump, warned about the on-going risks associated with the geopolitical situation in Europe.
“Our shared assessment is that the security situation in Europe will remain challenging and unpredictable for a long term. In these turbulent times, it’s important that you have close allies like Lithuania and Finland. We need a credible collective defence for the eastern flank of Europe,” he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy speaks as French President Emmanuel Macron, US President Donald Trump and Finnish President Alexander Stubb listen during a meeting with European leaders in the East Room of the White House in Washington DC last month. Photograph: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images
Discussing the lack of progress on Ukraine, he said he wasn’t “very optimistic that we will achieve a ceasefire or a framework for the peace negotiations in the near future” as Putin keeps stalling any discussions.
He said that Europe should “obviously continue our dialogue and engagement” with US president Donald Trump, “who is very much in the driver’s seat,” but acknowledge that Putin was “testing everyone’s patience.”
Separately asked about the on-going discussions on security guarantees, Stubb – who was part of the European delegation to see Trump in Washington – replied:
“We need to coordinate the security arrangements with the United States, which essentially will provide the backstop for this. This is what we’re focusing on right now.
We’re focusing on these issues with our Chiefs of Defence, which are drawing the concrete plans of what this type of an operation might look like, and I stress, post peace agreement.
And then we are also discussing this on a political level, for instance, on Thursday. So we’re making progress on this, and hopefully we’ll get a solution soon.”
Stubb also warned that the China summit with Russia and India reminded everyone about “the on-going competition [about forming] the new world order.”
He said:
“What we saw with the Shanghai Cooperation Group is what we have been seeing in the sidelines for a longer time, there’s an attempt to undermine the unity of the global West.
And my message, not only to my European colleagues, but especially to the United States, is that if we don’t drive a more cooperative or dignified foreign policy with especially the global South, the likes of India, we’re going to lose this game.”
Lithuania’s first lady Diana Nausediene, Lithuania’s president Gitanas Nauseda, Finland’s president Alexander Stubb and Finland’s first lady Suzanne Innes-Stubb pose at the entrance of the Presidential Castle in Helsinki. Photograph: Antti Aimo-Koivisto/Lehtikuva/AFP/Getty Images
In his comments, Lithuania’s Nausėda spoke about the need to fast-track the adoption of the 19th package of EU sanctions on Ukraine, and to press ahead with Ukraine’s accession to the EU by 2030.
But he also said that the apparent diplomatic backing Russia is getting form China and India “means probably it will be even more complicated to find the solutions between the United States and Russia and Ukraine.”
Nausėda insisted that “Russia’s behaviour is based on the assumption that they don’t want any peace, and [so] the peace could be achieved only through strength, through very strong measures the international society should apply.”
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Updated at 10.37 BST
EU’s Europe ministers to discuss Ukraine, Moldova’s accession plans amid Hungarian block
One of the topics of today’s informal meeting of Europe ministers in Copenhagen is the EU’s enlargement process, including a discussion on Ukraine and Moldova.
French minister Benjamin Haddad nailed the issue in his doorstep comments, saying:
“We’ll have to talk very frankly, very openly about the fact that … when it comes to Ukraine 26 countries around the table that are ready to move forward with the opening of the cluster for Ukraine, but you have one country, Hungary, that is still holding up, for domestic reasons [or] for bilateral reasons, this process, and this is something that we’ll have to address here today.”
Poland’s Ignacy Niemczycki said “the time is absolutely right” to open the first cluster of negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova.
“We really feel that we want to send positive signals to the Ukrainian people, not negative. So it’s obviously a difficult situation, but the easiest way forward would be for Hungary not to block Ukraine any more,” he said.
But Hungary’s János Bóka insisted the EU should be focused on the western Balkans instead.
He said:
“When it comes to enlargement, I will make the case of maintaining our focus on the western Balkans. We have promised membership to countries in the region more than 20 years ago. It is time to deliver on our promise. Otherwise, we will lose our credibility there.”
On Ukraine specifically, he added:
“I think this is a very political issue where governments need to be aware of what the electorate in the member states actually wants.”
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Belgium to recognise Palestinian state at UN general assembly
Jennifer Rankin
in Brussels
Belgium will recognise a Palestinian state at the UN general assembly, adding to the growing number of countries seeking to put pressure on Israel and keep alive a two-state solution to end the conflict.
The Belgian deputy prime minister and foreign minister Maxime Prévot talks to the press as he arrives for a meeting last month. Photograph: Shutterstock
Belgium’s deputy prime minister, Maxime Prévot, announced the move during the night after complex negotiations within the governing five-party coalition.
He also announced 12 sanctions measures against Israel, including a ban on the import of products from occupied territories and restrictions on consular aid to Belgians living in those areas.
The Belgian government will also declare persona non grata (not welcome on Belgian soil) two far-right Israeli ministers, Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, as well as several violent Israeli settlers and Hamas leaders.
In a statement on X, Prévot wrote:
“In view of the humanitarian tragedy playing out in Palestine and particularly in Gaza, and in the face of the violence perpetrated by Israel in violation of international law, given its international obligations, including the duty to prevent any risk of genocide, Belgium had to take strong decisions to increase pressure on the Israeli government and the Hamas terrorists.”
He indicated that Belgium would recognise Palestine at this month’s UN general assembly, after France announced such an intention in July in the hope of creating momentum for peace.
But the Belgian royal decree on recognition would not be issued until the last hostage is released.
The compromise averts a political crisis within the relatively new Belgian government. Prévot, a centrist who is also foreign minister, had threatened to block government business if there was no agreement on recognition, or taking a stricter tone towards Israel.
Only last week the prime minister, Bart de Wever, a Flemish nationalist, described recognition as “counterproductive” and “pointless” without the full disarmament of Hamas.
More updates on our Middle East crisis liveblog:
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Updated at 09.29 BST
Morning opening: Growing frustration over Putin’s refusal to move on Ukraine
Jakub Krupa
Europe looks on with growing frustration as the US-led peace efforts in Ukraine show little tangible progress amid continuing attacks, even as Russia – the aggressor – receives a warm and increasingly public embrace from China.
Europe ministers of EU countries are meeting in Copenhagen this morning, so we should get the latest EU line on this.
Firefighters work at the site of car garages hit by a Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in the city of Bila Tserkva, Kyiv region, Ukraine. Photograph: State Emergency Service Of Ukraine/Reuters
The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said last night that “all options are on the table” as Russia’s Vladimir Putin “has done the opposite of following through on what he indicated he wanted to do” in the weeks since his summit with the US president, Donald Trump.
“As a matter of fact, he has in a despicable, despicable manner increased the bombing campaign,” he told Fox News.
His comments indicate growing frustration within the US administration with the lack of progress on Ukraine. But we are yet to hear from Trump himself.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Putin is diplomatically active in China, meeting Xi and India’s Modi for closed talks.
The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, shakes hands with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China. Photograph: China Daily/Reuters
On Tuesday, Putin hailed the “unprecedented level” of Russian-Chinese friendship to Xi, and socialised with Modi, who went above and beyond by posting on his social media a picture of the pair sitting in a limousine together and praising the Russian leader for “always insightful” conversation.
They discussed “the peaceful resolution of the conflict in Ukraine,” Modi said, but it remains unlikely, if unclear, whether their way of getting to the outcome is anywhere near Europe’s preferred scenario.
Let’s see what the day brings us. I will bring you all the key updates here.
It’s Tuesday, 2 September 2025, it’s Jakub Krupa here, and this is Europe Live.
Good morning.
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Updated at 09.03 BST