Russia just sent its military intelligence chief into Ukraine peace talks
11 hours ago · 8 November 2026Share
GRU headquarters on Grizodubovoy Street in Moscow.Гагыдза · CC BY-SA 3.0
Russia just upgraded its team for this week's peace talks in Abu Dhabi.
And this time it's bringing its military intelligence chief.
Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, announced the new lineup a day ago.
So who's actually going?
Vladimir Medinsky is still leading. He's the presidential aide who has run Russia's Ukraine file since the first talks in Istanbul back in 2022.
With him: two Deputy Foreign Ministers, Sergei Ryabkov and Mikhail Galuzin. Plus Igor Kostyukov, who runs Russia's military intelligence service, the GRU. Plus Yury Zhigarlovsky, deputy chief of the part of the General Staff that actually plans Russian military operations.
Five names. Only one of them is new to this process — Ryabkov. Medinsky, Galuzin and Kostyukov have all sat at earlier rounds. Kostyukov even led the Russian side at the last Abu Dhabi round, in January.
So it's not really about who's new. It's about what two of them represent.
Zhigarlovsky plans military operations for a living. Ryabkov handles Russia's relations with the United States and arms control.
Bloomberg says putting both of them in the same room could mean Moscow is ready to talk politics and military questions together, not just politics. Worth being clear: that's Bloomberg's reading. Russia hasn't said that itself, and nobody in Moscow has confirmed it.
Putin walked through preparations for the talks with his Security Council two days ago. The people now headed to Abu Dhabi were in that room with him.
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Abu Dhabi's skyline in December 2014. File photo.Wadiia · CC BY-SA 4.0
And all of this is happening while Russia keeps firing missiles and drones at Ukrainian cities and power infrastructure. That hasn't slowed down at all.
Now here's where it gets messy — on Ukraine's side, nobody agrees who's actually leading.
David Arakhamia, who runs Volodymyr Zelensky's party in parliament, says Rustem Umerov is leading. Umerov runs Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service. Arakhamia says reports naming Kyrylo Budanov as the leader are simply wrong. Budanov is going, he says, just not in charge.
But Budanov told CBS News something different. He said he will lead Ukraine's delegation himself.
So you've got two senior Ukrainian voices giving two different answers, and nobody has sorted it out publicly.
Budanov also said, on that same programme, not to expect a breakthrough this round. He says quote "these negotiations are not the last, they are not final".
Steve Witkoff, the US special envoy, is the one who announced the Abu Dhabi dates — 10 and 11 November. This is the first round of this three-way format since February. Putin agreed to restart it after meeting Witkoff in Moscow last month.
One more thing. European governments supply most of Ukraine's weapons and money for this war. They're not expected to be in the room in Abu Dhabi at all.
So what are Kostyukov and Zhigarlovsky actually there to discuss? Nobody has said. Whether the bigger delegation means Russia is digging in or getting ready to actually give ground — that's not known either. It's a reading of who's in the room, not something Russia has stated.
And Ukraine still hasn't settled, even among its own officials, who is speaking for it.
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