Europe is trying to crash the talks in Abu Dhabi.
National security advisers from France, Germany and Britain, along with the chiefs of staff of the European Commission president and the NATO secretary general, will join separate segments of the talks in Abu Dhabi on Ukraine, the Financial Times reports, citing sources. A senior EU official confirmed to the Kyiv Independent that the EU, NATO and the three countries will participate, although the exact format remains unclear.
According to the FT, their aim is to block what they see as attempts by the Russians to use the US-led talks to redraw Europe's security architecture. Moscow's push for a say in what Europeans call "sovereign issues," such as NATO exercises and deployments of troops and weapons in Eastern Europe, has reportedly prompted sharp pushback in European capitals.
The Europeans say that Washington has never discussed with them the new European security concept mentioned by Kushner, and insist on addressing it only after a peace agreement with Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the talks on November 10-11 are tripartite, between Russia and Ukraine, mediated by the United States. The Europeans, he said, have their own channels with the Americans and the Ukrainians, and they are probably building their own coordination mechanism.
The Russian delegation includes presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, deputy foreign ministers Sergei Ryabkov and Mikhail Glozin, and head of military intelligence Igor Kostyukov.