BRUSSELS, November 18. /TASS/. Fernand Kartheiser, a member of the European Parliament who recently visited Russia, has sent a letter to EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas with a call to resume dialogue with Russia and drop plans to integrate Ukraine into the European Union's military network.
The European MP published the letter on the X social network, saying that its goal was to "help achieve a sustainable resolution to the conflict in and around Ukraine." The lawmaker said that on the outcomes of his visit to Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi for the BRICS-Europe Symposium, he drafted an eight-point plan that will facilitate peace in Ukraine.
"The EU should engage without further delay in a dialogue with Russia. There is no doubt that the Russian side is open to such a dialogue and would welcome it," he wrote. "The militarization of the EU makes a possible future accession of Ukraine much more complicated. Ukraine should therefore not be incorporated into EU programs with a defense character."
Kartheiser also called upon EU countries to "frankly acknowledge the serious problem of radical nationalism inside Ukraine" and employ its power to eradicate it. The EU should also help to establish effective protection for all national, religious and linguistic minorities, including the country’s Russian-speaking population.
The remaining four points include real international security guarantees for Ukraine on the basis of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, "a pragmatic EU line on territorial integrity" taking into account the precedents of Northern Cyprus and Kosovo (not recognized by five EU member states), real post-conflict reconstruction effort in Ukraine and "a diplomacy that reduces escalation, not fuels it."
Kartheiser, who heads the Alternative Democratic Reform Party, was elected to the European Parliament in 2024. He has consistently called for normalization of relations between the European Union and Russia.
As a European Parliament member, Kartheiser paid his first visit to Russia on May 25-28, on an invitation from the Russian parliament’s lower house, the State Duma. A week after his visit to Moscow, the European Conservatives and Reformists Group of the European Parliament excluded him from its ranks. The politician told TASS in an interview that he is ready for repressions on the part of Brussels, and will not change his position.