Jared Kushner and Steven Witkoff, special representatives of the United States, will meet with Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, in Moscow on Thursday. This meeting aims to negotiate an agreement to end the Ukraine war and also to establish a broader security framework between Russia and Europe.
Peace Talks in Abu Dhabi
According to reports, the proposed security framework between Europe and Russia has been the main focus of recent peace talks in Abu Dhabi. American officials have been trying to convince Moscow to present new proposals to address its security concerns in exchange for reciprocal steps to reduce tensions with European countries.
Read more: Peace talks between Russia, Ukraine, and the United States continue in Abu Dhabi
It is expected that the American representatives will reiterate this proposal in their meeting with Putin and ask the Russian President to invite representatives from Europe to the next round of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine. Additionally, Kushner and Witkoff are scheduled to travel from Moscow to Dublin to meet with Volodymyr Zelensky, the President of Ukraine, on Thursday night.
Initial Results of the Talks
This diplomatic initiative follows two days of negotiations in Abu Dhabi with the presence of Russian and Ukrainian officials along with American representatives. These sessions are considered the first meeting of Russian and Ukrainian officials with American mediators since the negotiations were suspended last February.
During these talks, Kushner and Witkoff tried to reduce tensions and informed the negotiating teams that the ultimate goal is for this round of negotiations to conclude with options that can be presented to the leaders of both countries. According to sources, the negotiations became gradually more constructive after both sides presented their positions.
Kushner stated at a press conference after the talks: "We had difficult discussions." One of the key outcomes of the Abu Dhabi negotiations was an agreement on prisoner exchanges, which Kushner and David Arakhamia, the Ukrainian negotiator, announced could be the largest exchange since the beginning of the war.
American and Ukrainian officials emphasized that the exact number of prisoners released will be determined in the negotiations on Thursday with Putin and Zelensky.
The broader security issue in Europe was also another important topic in the negotiations. Russian negotiators believed that Putin attacked Ukraine due to the lack of response from Joe Biden, the former President of the United States, to a letter in 2021 that raised Moscow's security concerns.
Kushner and Witkoff informed the Russian representatives that the international situation has changed significantly since 2021 and urged Moscow to present a new security proposal. They asked Russia not only to express its security concerns and demands but also to provide "reciprocal steps" to reduce tensions and ensure that there would be no future attacks on European countries.
According to one source, American representatives also emphasized the need for European countries to participate in future peace negotiations to address broader security concerns on the European continent. However, Moscow has so far opposed European participation in peace talks.
Russian President's advisor, Vladimir Medinsky, who led the Russian delegation in Abu Dhabi, criticized European leaders after the negotiations and also indicated that Moscow is interested in a broader security agreement with Europe as part of a potential agreement to end the Ukraine conflict.
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