Russia names delegation for US-Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi on 10 and 11 November

Russia has named the members of its delegation for the trilateral talks with the United States and Ukraine, according to a statement from Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov to Interfax. The meeting is set to take place in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Russian delegation line-up

Vladimir Medinsky, a Kremlin adviser, will again lead the Russian team, as he did in earlier rounds of talks. Deputy foreign ministers Sergei Ryabkov and Mikhail Galuzin will also join, and Ryabkov is part of the negotiating group for the first time. The military side includes Igor Kostyukov, head of Russian military intelligence, and Yuri Zhigarlovsky, a senior General Staff officer, alongside other senior diplomatic and military officials. A Polish report says Kostyukov was involved in the poisoning of Sergei Skripal, a former Russian officer who worked as a double agent for British intelligence in the 1990s. Medinsky, 56, is a former culture minister born in Smila, in what was then Soviet Ukraine. The BBC, as cited in the same Polish report, says he co-wrote a new Russian school history textbook that officially justifies Russia's military aggression against Ukraine.

Putin's Security Council meeting

Putin met the delegation members at a Security Council session on Friday, 6 November. Most of the meeting took place behind closed doors. In the filmed part, Putin thanked the United Arab Emirates for hosting the negotiations. According to the reports, the meeting also covered Russia's strategy for the talks. Asked whether the other people invited to that meeting would join the delegation, Peskov answered yes. Yuri Ushakov, a presidential adviser, also attended and is coordinating preparations for the talks as the president's adviser on international affairs.

Format and timing

The trilateral format brings Russia, Ukraine and the United States together in Abu Dhabi. The United States is acting as mediator between Moscow and Kyiv. The talks are scheduled for Tuesday, 10 November, and Wednesday, 11 November, and are due to last two days. They are the first talks of this kind since February. Their stated aim is to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine. No results have been announced, since the sessions have not yet started.

Possible European participation

On Friday, 6 November, US presidential envoy Jared Kushner did not rule out taking part in the talks for European countries. He said in a post on X that this would depend on progress in the negotiations. Kushner also wrote that any agreement must fully respect the sovereignty, territorial integrity and decision-making independence of every state. He said each country would keep control over its own security and alliances, and that no state would hold a veto over another's sovereign decisions. He added that NATO will remain central to European collective defence and that the initiative will rely on existing institutions.

Delegations still unknown

Ukraine has not yet published the composition of its delegation. The American line-up has not been announced either. Speculation in Polish media points to Kushner and Steve Witkoff, a New York property developer, based on the usual pattern of past negotiations. No official list has confirmed either name.