In the final working week before Christmas, EU leaders gathered for a meeting that might prove historic – but not for the reasons they hoped.

Vladimir Putin said Slovakia's prime minister offered on his recent visit to Moscow to host potential talks between Russia and Ukraine. Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that Russia was open to a Slovakian proposal to host peace talks with Ukraine with a view to ending the war that began in its current form with Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Putin said the Slovakian authorities "...would be happy to provide their own country as a platform for negotiations. We are not opposed, if it comes to that. Why not? Since Slovakia takes such a neutral position.

EU chiefs have slammed Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico following his Kremlin meeting with Vladimir Putin on Sunday. Fico secured a new deal for cheap Russian fossil fuels, essential to Slovakia as it's among the EU nations most dependent on Russian ...

Separately, FM says Russia is ready to improve ties with Trump's administration if the US shows serious intentions

Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico arrived in Russia on a “working visit” and met with Putin one-on-one on Sunday evening.

Brussels was enraged after Viktor Orban met with Putin in Moscow - now another EU leader has met the Russian President in the Kremlin.

And yet, when the town’s residents cast their ballots in last month’s presidential election, they overwhelmingly voted for Călin Georgescu, the candidate who showed every sign of being the preferred choice of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged Donald Trump on Thursday to ally with Europe to stop Russia and save his country amid fears the NATO sceptic U.S. President-elect could deal a setback to Kyiv by cutting American support for its war effort.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has held talks in the Kremlin with Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, in a rare visit to Moscow by an EU leader since Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks in the Kremlin on Sunday with Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico, in a rare visit to Moscow by an EU leader since the conflict between Russia and Ukraine began in 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks in the Kremlin on Sunday with Slovakia’s prime minister, Robert Fico (shown here in Brussels in February 2024), in a rare visit to Moscow by an EU leader since Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. (Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP)