By Andrew Gray
BRUSSELS, June 17 (Reuters) - The office of European Council President Antonio Costa has made "brief contacts at diplomatic level" with the Kremlin in recent weeks "to open communication channels", an EU official said on Wednesday.
"Nothing was discussed on substance," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity. "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 official added: "The EU is not a mediator. It supports Ukraine in its efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace."
European leaders have stepped up discussions in recent weeks about the possibility of direct talks with Russia over the war in Ukraine and broader security issues, after years of isolating Moscow diplomatically.
However, they have yet to agree on a joint approach and some countries have expressed wariness about getting involved in talks with Moscow. The United States has so far led diplomatic efforts to reach a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia.
Some European leaders have also pushed back against efforts by Britain, France and Germany - known as the E3 - to take the diplomatic lead for Europe in any dialogue with Moscow.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday renewed her call for a single European Union envoy to handle contacts with Russia over Ukraine. She suggested that person should not come from one of the big European countries.
Meloni told reporters at the end of a G7 summit in France that a proliferation of diplomatic groups within Europe risked creating confusion, making it important to find a single voice to speak for the bloc when dealing with Russia.
"It would be very difficult to put forward someone from one of the largest European countries," she told reporters, adding: "In my view, proposing one of those candidates would make an agreement harder to reach, so I would look instead to the EU's medium-sized powers."
(Reporting by Andrew Gray, Editing by Charlotte Van Campenhout, Aidan Lewis)
