Former high-ranking officials from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and Russia met in Vienna in July to explore potential conditions for peace talks to resolve the conflict in Ukraine, Bloomberg quoted sources as saying. The meeting was attended by former British national security advisor Tim Barrow, former State Secretary Markus Ederer, and seasoned French diplomat Pierre Vimont. According to the agency, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not respond to a request for comment. The German Foreign Ministry told Bloomberg that it has no information about the meeting. On June 17, Bloomberg claimed that one of the key advisors of European Council President Antonio Costa had held two phone conversations with a high-ranking Russian official close to the Russian president, which infuriated some EU countries.