OREANDA-NEWS. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the European Union, like the United States, should conduct a direct dialogue with Russia at a high level; there is no talk of "encouraging" Moscow from Brussels.

"What happened? What happened is that we talk a lot about the sovereignty of Europe, that the US president had a very serious meeting with Vladimir Putin, which does not give the impression of encouraging the Russian president, and that a sovereign Europe, in my opinion, should be able to defend its interests in similar meetings, "she said at a press conference on Friday.

She added that she didn’t think it was enough for the EU when the US president told member countries about such meetings. “I believe that we are enough men and women to participate in direct negotiations,” the chancellor added.

Merkel stressed that this is about the sovereignty of Europe, "and not the categories of" encouragement "or" not encouragement. "

Earlier on June 25, it became known that the leaders of the EU countries rejected the proposal of German Chancellor Angela Merkel for a summit with Russia, Reuters reports.

It is noted that after the night talks in Brussels, the leaders of the 27 EU states could not come to any common agreement. "It was a very detailed and difficult discussion. Today there was no agreement on an immediate meeting of the leaders," Merkel said Friday morning. The proposal was supported by Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, but other leaders opposed the initiative.