BERLIN — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz urged US President Donald Trump not to spring any surprises during expected talks on Ukraine with Russian President Vladimir Putin in China next week.
Merz said some European leaders feared the talks could become a “second Anchorage moment,” referring to the Trump-Putin summit in Anchorage, Alaska, which European leaders had hoped would help advance efforts to end the war in Ukraine.
“I therefore want to state our message to the United States very clearly: please, no surprises. Continue to play as part of ‘Team Europe’ and ‘Team Ukraine’,” Merz said.
The German chancellor is pushing EU leaders to commit to supporting Ukraine as part of negotiations on the bloc’s long-term budget. He said the proposal had received broad backing, although an agreement remained some distance away.
Merz said substantive peace negotiations were expected to begin in the coming weeks following meetings between US and Russian representatives in Abu Dhabi this week, with European participation for the first time.
He rejected Russia’s calls to place Europe’s security architecture at the centre of the talks, arguing that such a framework already existed through NATO.
“The upcoming discussions must focus on one central question: within what framework can Ukraine’s security be guaranteed once peace is achieved? First, however, we must actually reach that peace,” Merz said.