EASTORA REPORT | Europe sent representatives to Abu Dhabi for Ukraine peace talks. Russia’s chief negotiator had a suggestion for them: if they came as tourists, they could talk at the hotel bar. At the negotiating table, Vladimir Medinsky said, there was no place for them.
Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, November 11, after two days of U.S.-mediated talks with Ukraine, the Kremlin aide said his delegation had held no meetings with European officials in the city. “We do not really understand in what capacity they are here,” he said, describing the process as one involving Russia, Ukraine and the United States.
Medinsky accused European governments of offering no concrete peace proposals and of misleading Ukrainians while supplying weapons to Kyiv. “If they came here as tourists, let them socialize in the hotel lobby bar,” he said. Asked when Europe might join the negotiations, he replied: “As soon as their conscience wakes up.” By contrast, he praised American envoys for what he called their realism and desire for peace.
His objections extended beyond who should attend. Medinsky argued that the war had exposed a failing European security order rooted in the Yalta and Potsdam settlements. He compared the continent to a sick body and Ukraine to an “abscess” that had burst. A temporary patch, he said, would not cure a system needing broader change.
On territory, he was even less conciliatory. “Every inch of Russian land will be returned to Russia one way or another,” Medinsky declared. He did not specify which land he meant. Moscow claims several regions of Ukraine as Russian, despite their internationally recognized status as Ukrainian territory; Kyiv rejects those claims.
Yet the Abu Dhabi round produced one potential result. Medinsky said Russian and Ukrainian negotiators had agreed in principle to a large prisoner exchange, with numbers to be announced later. He also acknowledged agreement on some questions and continuing differences on others.
The talks ended without a ceasefire or settlement over territory. Europe remained outside Russia’s negotiating room, and Medinsky left with a pledge to reclaim land Moscow considers its o