MOSCOW, May 27. /TASS/. The European Union will unlikely be able to seize the initiative in the Ukrainian peace push from the United States and its attempts to find a negotiator with Russia are driven by an understanding that it is impossible to inflict strategic defeat on the country, Artyom Sokolov, a senior researcher at the International Studies Institute of MGIMO University, told TASS.

"The EU is certainly seeking full-fledged representation in the negotiation process around the Ukraine crisis which is impossible without communication with Russia. The Europeans have for long refused to do so on the assumption that the tactics of inflicting 'strategic defeat' on the Russian Federation were a priority and that therefore communication with it would be established after that strategic defeat 'takes place,'" Sokolov explained. "But now that these prospects look unlikely even to the most hawkish European politicians, there is a demand for a full-fledged negotiation track that the European side is currently trying to convert into a specific format," he noted.

He doubted that "the European Union will discuss seizing the opportunity from the United States on the negotiation track." This is because "the Europeans have not so far had the same track record of talks as Russian and American negotiators," the expert explained.

EU foreign ministers are expected to discuss potential EU-Russia talks at an informal meeting in Cyprus on May 27-28.

Earlier, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas said that, instead of discussing candidates for negotiators, the bloc’s top diplomats will consider the list of terms that she thinks Brussels should put forward to Russia ahead of and at talks, if any begin.