Russia sends higher-level team to US-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi

A higher-ranking Russian team heads to Abu Dhabi

Russia is sending a more senior group than in prior rounds to the latest US-mediated talks, with sessions set to begin Tuesday in the United Arab Emirates. Interfax, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, listed the attendees on Saturday.

Vladimir Medinsky, a presidential aide, is slated to chair the delegation, with Deputy Foreign Ministers Sergei Ryabkov and Mikhail Galuzin on the roster, alongside Igor Kostyukov, who heads military intelligence, and Yury Zhigarlovsky of the General Staff. Kostyukov led Moscow's team in Abu Dhabi in January, and Medinsky has worked on the Ukraine file since the 2022 talks in Istanbul.

Ryabkov is the senior diplomat for relations with the US and Iran and for arms control. The lineup signals Moscow may be prepared to engage on political questions alongside battlefield issues as the invasion grinds toward the five-year mark.

How the talks were restarted and what is on the table

According to the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin reviewed preparations with Russia's Security Council on Friday, and the full UAE-bound delegation took part in that meeting. In October in Moscow, after seeing US President Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff, Putin agreed to restart three-way talks with the US and Ukraine aimed at a possible peace deal.

Per the Kremlin, the agenda features work on security arrangements for Russia and Ukraine once the conflict is over. Recently, the Trump administration intensified its push to help end the war, and Jared Kushner posted on X that the US had talks in Brussels with Ukraine, NATO, and European partners on "security guarantees for Ukraine and a broader European security architecture."

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Ukraine's team and stance heading into Abu Dhabi

Rustem Umerov, who leads Ukraine's foreign intelligence service, will chair Kyiv's delegation. He has recently led Ukraine's talks with the US and Europe on support for the war effort and economic recovery. The delegation also includes Zelenskyy's chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, along with David Arakhamia, who leads Zelenskyy's party in parliament.

Zelenskyy has been coordinating with allies ahead of the meetings, including through the Nordic-Baltic Eight regional group, and said he had a "very detailed" call with Witkoff and Kushner on Wednesday. On Friday he posted on X, "It is not easy, but we need to get onto the diplomatic track and move toward ending the war. We are coordinating with our partners" and added, "Ukraine is doing everything to make peace happen."

European officials insist Russia must halt its war before discussing Europe's broader security setup, a point Zelenskyy also pressed in an X post on Saturday. "It's dangerous when Russia wants to begin these discussions with a new security infrastructure in Europe," he said, adding, "By the by, it's even more dangerous for the EU."

The backdrop to talks and why it matters for markets

The diplomatic push follows a sharp intensification of long-range strikes. Russia has mounted repeated barrages of missiles and drones against Kyiv and other major cities, striking energy, transport, and other infrastructure as winter nears. Since late October, after a pause urged by Trump before the US midterm elections, Ukraine resumed striking energy infrastructure in Russia, including oil refineries, with many attacks reaching deep into Russian territory, and it has also hit military facilities and logistics hubs there.

Trump said he will hold meetings on Russia and Ukraine with "a lot of different people" this weekend. On Friday he told reporters, "Russia and Ukraine for the first time, I think, want to settle," without offering evidence.

Why this matters for your portfolio: negotiations that weigh security guarantees and an endgame for the conflict can shift risk premiums tied to energy, transport, and European assets. Watch who is at the table, whether post-conflict security is front and center, and how the tempo of strikes moves as sessions begin Tuesday.

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