Macron and Starmer want to dissuade Trump from bilateral talks with Moscow, - The Times
Date: 2025-02-24 Author: Кирило Загоруйко Categories: WORLD
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron have agreed to coordinate their actions in an attempt to influence US President Donald Trump's plan to end the war in Ukraine.
According to The Times, citing its sources, during their meeting with Trump this week, European leaders will try to persuade Trump not to hold bilateral peace talks with Moscow in exchange for European commitments to ensure Ukraine's security in the future.
Starmer is due to meet Trump in Washington on Thursday. Macron has already held separate talks with the president on Monday.
The publication recalls that on the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Britain will announce a new package of sanctions, which will ban all high-ranking Russian politicians, officials and businessmen from traveling to the UK. The Home Office has announced that all local and federal ministers, as well as directors and senior executives of major Russian companies, will be banned from entering the country.
At the same time, officials are skeptical that Starmer will announce a specific timetable for increasing defence spending to 2.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) before meeting Trump.
One senior Whitehall source said there was no sign that Starmer was preparing to make Trump a "big offer" anytime soon.
On Sunday, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said the UK would significantly increase its commitment from the current 2.3 per cent of GDP. However, when asked whether the prime minister would promise Trump that the UK would spend "much more", Phillipson said "2.5 per cent is ambitious".
She also stopped short of criticizing Trump for opening talks with Putin over Ukraine, saying the president was right to approach Russia with an offer to negotiate, but "without Kyiv's participation there can be no settlement." "There can be no settlement unless there are negotiations involving both Russia and Ukraine," she said.
