ISTANBUL

The Kremlin on Thursday accused Europe of “militarizing” itself so much that it has turned into a “war party.”

“Europe has so far gone into militarizing itself and has rather turned into a war party,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in Moscow.

Expressing that Russia hears many signals coming from Europe every day, Peskov argued that signals from Brussels and other European capitals mainly concern plans to militarize the bloc.

He said that this is “clearly at odds with the attitude of the presidents of Russia and the US to seek ways to enter into a peaceful settlement process.”

Moscow has not received any signals from Brussels about its readiness to begin the negotiation process, Peskov further said.

Commenting on the upcoming meeting between technical groups from Russia and the US, the spokesman said the talks will be held in the “very next few days,” and will also include talks on Ukraine and the possible revival of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

“The presidents also spoke about renewing the Black Sea initiative (during their talks on Sunday). There are also many nuances there that need to be discussed,” he said, noting that the upcoming talks will include discussions on these nuances.

The grain deal, initially signed in July 2022 in Istanbul by Türkiye, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine, was aimed at resuming grain exports from Ukrainian ports halted due to the Russia-Ukraine war, which began in February 2022.

On July 17, 2023, Russia withdrew from the deal, saying that the Russian part of the agreement had not been implemented. It sought the loosening of banking restrictions and the ability to ship its fertilizer before returning to the agreement.

The spokesman also announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a message to his Syrian counterpart Ahmad al-Sharaa, in which he "supported efforts to quickly stabilize the situation in the country in the interests of ensuring its sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity."

"Russia’s continued readiness to develop practical cooperation with the Syrian leadership on the entire range of issues on the bilateral agenda was confirmed in order to strengthen traditionally friendly Russian-Syrian relations," he added.