A Russian delegation arrived in the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi on Monday to participate in trilateral talks involving Russia, Ukraine and the United States, the state-run Tass news agency reported.
The delegation is led by presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, while Ukraine’s delegation will be led by Rustem Umerov, the head of the country’s Foreign Intelligence Service.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the talks would focus on security guarantees, adding that European representatives would not participate because the negotiations were initially agreed upon as a trilateral format.
“What will take place in Abu Dhabi in the coming days is trilateral negotiations between Russia and Ukraine with US mediation. As for the presence of Europeans, you know that the Americans have their own channels of communication with Europeans, and Ukrainians with Europeans,” he noted.
“And they, apparently, are building their own coordination mechanism. But I repeat once more: this is about trilateral negotiations in Abu Dhabi,” Peskov added.
Russian, Ukrainian and US representatives are scheduled to convene in Abu Dhabi for a renewed round of trilateral peace negotiations starting Tuesday.
Russia and Ukraine last held US-mediated peace talks earlier this year, with three rounds taking place on Jan. 23-24, Feb. 4-5 and Feb. 17-18. The first two were held in Abu Dhabi, while the third took place in Geneva.