The EU has demanded a role in talks with Russia over the Ukraine crisis and broader European defense issues next week.

EU officials in an interview with the Financial Times expressed disappointment with the way the talks in Geneva and Brussels were organized: Russian officials are going to discuss the security of Ukraine and the entire European continent with colleagues from Washington and the US-led military alliance. While US officials maintain close contact with representatives from Brussels and individual EU countries, Washington has not attempted to change Moscow's proposed talks.

Brussels cannot be a neutral spectator in the negotiations on the future of Europe's security architecture, European Union (EU) High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said on Tuesday at the start of a three-day visit to Ukraine.

The sidelining underscores Brussels’s lack of influence over foreign policy amid divergent views on how to deal with Russia and internal disagreements over the EU’s own security policy, EU officials said, pointing out the inability of the 27 EU member states agree on a long-planned statement of cooperation with NATO.

Talks between Russia and the US on Russian proposals for security guarantees are scheduled for January 10 in Geneva. It is assumed that after the Russian proposals will be discussed on January 12 at a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council specially convened in Brussels and on January 13 at the OSCE site in Vienna.

Kyiv and Western states have recently expressed concern about the alleged intensification of aggressive actions by Russia near the borders of Ukraine. Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said that Russia is moving troops within its territory and at its discretion. According to him, this does not threaten anyone and should not bother anyone, RIA Novosti notes.