Medinsky, Ryabkov, Umerov, Budanov: read the names before you read the mood

Ukrainian, Russian and American officials meet in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, AFP reports, in the first such negotiations in more than nine months¹. This morning’s edition covered the format. Tonight the useful detail is who is going.

Moscow’s list. The Kremlin’s team is led by Vladimir Medinsky, Putin’s aide, and includes diplomat Mikhail Galuzin, intelligence chief Igor Kostyukov, army general Yuri Zhygarlovsky and, for the first time, Sergei Ryabkov, who put forward Moscow’s December 2021 “ultimatum” for NATO to roll back troops from eastern Europe¹. Alexander Gabuev of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center called it “quite a serious team” able to talk about territory, security guarantees “and also European security”¹.

Kyiv’s list. Ukraine’s delegation is led by Rustem Umerov and includes Kyrylo Budanov¹. Political analyst Volodymyr Fesenko told AFP that Kyiv will try to push for partial or local ceasefires, citing a recent truce in the Kherson region as “a very positive precedent”¹. The Kremlin has so far refused broader ceasefires¹.

Washington’s list, and Europe’s chair. Witkoff and Kushner represent the US². Secretary of State Marco Rubio said security guarantees have “repeatedly come up” and that there had been advances on what the post-war “architecture” could look like². An EU official told AFP that national security officials for the EU, NATO, France, Germany and the UK would be on site, though how they would take part is unclear; the Kremlin insists on the three-party format¹. President Zelenskyy has warned against a “Yalta 2.0”¹.

For you, the calm reading is this. A team with Ryabkov on it is built to argue about Europe, not only about a front line. A Ukrainian push for local truces is built to save lives one district at a time. Both are documents waiting to be written. Judge the round by the paper it produces.