I'm John Batchel. I welcome my colleague of many years, Anatole Levin, of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft,

writing most recently at Unheard, a site I recommend robustly for reading the point of view of the

very well-educated and well-informed journalists of Europe, especially London, although it's international. Unheard is the publication.

Unheard is the attempt. It's not about H-E-A-R-D. It's about not with the herd, not being one of the

sheep. In this instance, it asks a question that I had not occurred to me to ask,

where is Europe in negotiating with the Kremlin? This is European matters. This is the European

feature. Who designated what we have of Steve Whitkoff and Jared Kushner to speak for

Paris? Anatole, a very good evening to you. It is a puzzle that is no Steve Whitkoff and Jared Kushner to speak for Paris.

Anatole, a very good evening to you.

It is a puzzle.

It is no one answer.

But at this point, would you say Europe recognizes this missing conversation,

or have they still much to achieve before they realize it's their territory we're talking about?

Good evening to you.

Hello, John. Well, some of them do. You know, Macron has flagged that he would like to talk,

or at least he would like French officials to talk to the Russians again. Stama in England sent his security advisor, Jonathan Powell, to talk to the Russians.

The problem is, you see, that in the meantime, I mean, well, almost four years ago, the European

Union imposed all these sanctions on Russia. And what the Russians are saying, as I gather in these meetings,

with the Europeans, look, we're not against talking, but if you want to play a positive role

in this peace process, you have to come up with some offers of

your own. Now, the Russians have not told me at least what they would like those offers to be.

But, of course, a key point has always been that to get Russia to drop its extreme demands against Ukraine. And above all,

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