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EU Has Made Diplomatic ‘Contacts’ with Kremlin, Says Official

European Council President Antonio Costa walks, during the official arrivals ceremony for the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, Monday, June 15, 2026. (AP)
European Council President Antonio Costa walks, during the official arrivals ceremony for the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, Monday, June 15, 2026. (AP)
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EU Has Made Diplomatic ‘Contacts’ with Kremlin, Says Official

European Council President Antonio Costa walks, during the official arrivals ceremony for the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, Monday, June 15, 2026. (AP)
European Council President Antonio Costa walks, during the official arrivals ceremony for the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, Monday, June 15, 2026. (AP)

The office of EU chief Antonio Costa has had "brief" diplomatic contacts with the Kremlin to open channels of communication, Brussels said Wednesday, as Europe debates whether to talk to Russia about ending the Ukraine war.

"In the past few weeks, brief contacts at diplomatic level were made to open communication channels but nothing was discussed on substance," an EU official said on condition of anonymity.

Discussions on Europe re-engaging with Moscow have become louder amid deadlocked US efforts to halt the war in Ukraine while President Donald Trump's attention has been consumed by Iran.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky -- who is due to join EU leaders at a summit in Brussels Thursday -- has pushed for Europe to play a more active role.

"In any future scenario, the EU has specific interests that will need to be defended, therefore it is important to have established diplomatic channels with Russia," the EU official said.

"The EU is not a mediator. It supports Ukraine in its efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace."

The official said that European Council president Costa -- who chairs meetings of EU leaders -- "has been coordinating closely with European leaders on possible engagement with Russia and the issues to be discussed when the right moment comes".

British, French and German ambassadors to Russia last week urged direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv in a rare meeting at Russia's foreign ministry last Thursday.

Trump at a G7 meeting involving Zelensky in France on Tuesday said Moscow should "make a deal" to end its war on Ukraine.

Zelensky said Vladimir Putin had rejected an offer of a meeting at the G7 but said he had also suggested to Trump that he could meet the Russian leader in the United States.

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World

US Military Says It Destroyed 2 Small Iranian Boats Trying to Steal a Drone

A US Navy sailor walks across the flight deck of the USS George Washington in the Arabian Sea, September 11, 2026. (Reuters)
A US Navy sailor walks across the flight deck of the USS George Washington in the Arabian Sea, September 11, 2026. (Reuters)
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US Military Says It Destroyed 2 Small Iranian Boats Trying to Steal a Drone

A US Navy sailor walks across the flight deck of the USS George Washington in the Arabian Sea, September 11, 2026. (Reuters)
A US Navy sailor walks across the flight deck of the USS George Washington in the Arabian Sea, September 11, 2026. (Reuters)

The US military said Tuesday that it opened fire and destroyed two small Iranian boats this week trying to steal a drone ship in the waters off Iran.

Capt. Tim Hawkins, US Central Command spokesman said that “Iranian small boats recently attempted to take possession of a US unmanned surface vessel, but they were unsuccessful after CENTCOM forcefully responded."

Iranian state media reported Monday that a pair of fishing boats came under attack in Hormozgan province on Iran’s southern coast and that several fishermen were reported missing, citing a provincial official.

It is the latest volley of fire in the more than six-month-old war as both sides seek control over the Strait of Hormuz, where the US has succeeded in recent weeks in loosening Iran’s grip over the critical energy shipping corridor. But the impact of the unpopular conflict has driven up the cost of oil and gasoline prices, posing political problems for President Donald Trump and his Republican Party.

Hawkins said Tuesday that the drone involved is a “Saildrone” — a small, roughly 25-foot (8-meter) craft — that can operate by itself. US Central Command has been using them in the region for several years to surveil maritime traffic.

Hawkins said all of the command’s surface drones “remain fully accounted for.” The military has long asserted that the technology on the Saildrones is commercially available and not sensitive in nature.

The latest drone incident, which was reported earlier by Axios, comes a week after Iranian state television reported that the country's navy captured one of the US military’s underwater drones at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz.

Hawkins said then that an Anduril Dive-LD drone had malfunctioned while it was surveying the waters in the region and that the US military no longer had possession of it.

He stressed that the drone was defective and noted that it was also an “older model that neither collected sensitive data no carried any classified sonar or radar equipment.”

World

UK, US and Netherlands Issue Advisory on Iran-Linked Spyware

Iranians walk past a wall decorated with the image of assassinated Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei and the national flag, in central of Tehran on September 14, 2026. (AFP)
Iranians walk past a wall decorated with the image of assassinated Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei and the national flag, in central of Tehran on September 14, 2026. (AFP)
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UK, US and Netherlands Issue Advisory on Iran-Linked Spyware

Iranians walk past a wall decorated with the image of assassinated Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei and the national flag, in central of Tehran on September 14, 2026. (AFP)
Iranians walk past a wall decorated with the image of assassinated Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei and the national flag, in central of Tehran on September 14, 2026. (AFP)

Britain, the United States and the Netherlands on Tuesday issued a joint cybersecurity advisory detailing spyware they say is used by Iranian state-linked actors to target dissidents, activists and journalists.

Britain's National Cyber Security Centre said Iranian state-linked cyber actors had used a spyware family known as "CHOSEN ‌BRICK" to steal ‌emails, messages and other ‌sensitive information ⁠through "spear-phishing" campaigns on ⁠messaging platforms including WhatsApp and Telegram.

"The details of this cyber campaign reveal how Iran ruthlessly uses digital surveillance in pursuit of its aim to repress critics of the regime, stealing emails and messages and accessing ⁠devices," Paul Chichester, NCSC Director of Operations, ‌said in ‌a statement.

Iran's embassy in London did not immediately ‌respond to a request for comment.

The malware, ‌according to the advisory, can collect information from contact lists, emails and social media accounts, capture screen content and access a device's microphone. ‌The NCSC said some victims' personal details had later appeared on pro-Iranian ⁠leak ⁠sites.

The NCSC said the attackers often posed as trusted contacts on messaging apps and tailored their approach to individual targets. In some cases, it said, they used fake documents, including fabricated MRI test results, to persuade victims to download the malware.

The NCSC, alongside the FBI and the Netherlands' AIVD intelligence service, said Iran "almost certainly" uses cyber operations to help suppress people it sees as threats.

World

EU Must Impose ‘Greater Cost’ on Russia to Curb ‘Hybrid Attacks’, Says Kallas

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas speaks during a debate on the "Urgent need for EU support to Ukraine against Russia’s escalation of its war of aggression" at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, 15 September 2026. (EPA)
High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas speaks during a debate on the "Urgent need for EU support to Ukraine against Russia’s escalation of its war of aggression" at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, 15 September 2026. (EPA)
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EU Must Impose ‘Greater Cost’ on Russia to Curb ‘Hybrid Attacks’, Says Kallas

High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas speaks during a debate on the "Urgent need for EU support to Ukraine against Russia’s escalation of its war of aggression" at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, 15 September 2026. (EPA)
High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas speaks during a debate on the "Urgent need for EU support to Ukraine against Russia’s escalation of its war of aggression" at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, 15 September 2026. (EPA)

The European Union must ramp up measures against the Kremlin, including reviewing the issuance of tourist visas to Russians, to counter Moscow's "hybrid attacks", foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Tuesday.

"Despite international efforts to end the war, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin chooses to intensify his war of aggression against Ukraine and hostilities against Europe, and one thing is very clear: Putin will not stop unless he is stopped," Kallas told the European Parliament.

"So, as Russia is willing to take greater risks, Europe must impose a greater cost."

Europe is grappling with what Kallas called a "steady increase in hybrid attacks" by Russia designed to weaken support for Ukraine.

Fears rose over the summer when an explosive-laden drone was discovered at a German airport in an incident Berlin blamed on Moscow.

Beyond ramping up support for Kyiv and sanctioning the Kremlin, Kallas said the EU should look to increase controls on Russians coming into the bloc.

"We can tighten control further over the movement of Russian diplomats within Schengen. We can ban issuing visas for Russian ex-combatants, and we should review the issuance of tourist fissures to Russian citizens," she said.

"We must reduce the pool of people conducting attacks on European soil."

Kallas also urged EU states to better share intelligence and step up the use of artificial intelligence to tackle Russian disinformation.

While the EU eyes more measures, officials admit that the West is struggling to halt actions from Moscow that float in a grey zone beneath open conflict.

"We have all the response options we need when it comes to hybrid. It will not always be visible and public, what we do," NATO chief Mark Rutte said Monday.

"The most important one, of course, is making sure that Ukraine has what it needs to stay in the fight."