Spanish PM calls for negotiations with Putin to end Ukraine war

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Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has called for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end Ukraine’s conflict.

Sánchez made the remarks while attending the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“It is important that we maintain contact with Putin as well,” Sánchez said in Davos.

“I strongly advocate, for example, that the French government and the German government… take the lead here.”

He said it would be conceivable to return to talks involving Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine, in the Normandy format established before the outbreak of the war.

The other EU member states would support Paris and Berlin in such an initiative, Sánchez said.

Earlier, Spain’s Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares expressed reservations about a possible delivery of Leopard battle tanks from his country to Ukraine.

“This possibility is not on the table at the moment,” he said.

His comments came as Western governments weigh their responses to Kiev’s calls for more powerful fighting vehicles.