Russia has named the delegation it will send to next week’s US-mediated talks with Ukraine in Abu Dhabi, with presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky again leading the team.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Interfax news agency on Saturday that the delegation will include deputy foreign ministers Sergei Ryabkov and Mikhail Galuzin, Igor Kostyukov, the chief of Russia’s military intelligence agency, and Yuri Zhigarlovsky, a senior officer of the General Staff, alongside other senior diplomatic and military officials. The trilateral meeting is scheduled for 10 and 11 November in the capital of the United Arab Emirates.
President Vladimir Putin confirmed the dates on Friday at a meeting of Russia’s Security Council attended by members of the negotiating team, according to the state news agency TASS. The meeting discussed preparations for the talks, which will be the first of their kind since February.
Medinsky remains Russia’s chief negotiator in the process. Ryabkov is joining the delegation for the first time, while Kostyukov previously led the Russian side at two rounds of US-mediated talks in Abu Dhabi earlier this year, when the discussions centred on military logistics and prisoner exchanges.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff, who announced the talks on Monday, has said the discussions will focus on post-war security arrangements, de-escalation, humanitarian efforts and next steps towards peace. Peskov said security guarantees would also be discussed. No representatives of European countries will attend, with the Kremlin describing the meeting as strictly trilateral.
The composition of the other delegations has not been officially confirmed. US media have reported that Witkoff and Jared Kushner, the son-in-law of President Donald Trump, will lead the American side, while reports on who will head Ukraine’s delegation differ. Those details should be treated as unconfirmed until the governments concerned announce them.
The announcement comes as fighting continues. Russian ballistic missiles struck Kyiv overnight, injuring three people including a child, in the latest attack on the Ukrainian capital.
Sources: Reuters — https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russian-aide-military-intelligence-chief-attend-talks-with-us-ukraine-kremlin-2026-11-07/ ; TASS, via Interfax reporting.
