France says Europeans will attend Russia-Ukraine talks in Abu Dhabi

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said on Sunday, 8 November, that European countries, including France, would take part in talks between Russian and Ukrainian officials due to open on Tuesday in Abu Dhabi under US mediation. "The Europeans will be well represented and France will be in Abu Dhabi to take part in these talks," he told RTL and Public Sénat, adding that he would not personally attend and could not yet say who would represent France.

Until now, the talks planned for 10 and 11 November had been described as trilateral negotiations between Ukrainian, Russian and American officials. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had said issues concerning Europe's security must be discussed with the participation of European nations. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had called for a dedicated EU envoy to the talks to avoid, in her words, "condemning Europe to irrelevance," a call backed by European Council President António Costa, who said EU involvement must let the bloc "convey a clear and unified message" and defend its interests.

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said European involvement would eventually be necessary in discussions about the continent's future security arrangements, but ruled out European participation in the trilateral Abu Dhabi talks themselves, according to Realitatea.md, citing the Agerpres news agency. Russia's delegation at the talks will be led by Vladimir Medinsky, an aide to President Vladimir Putin, and will include Deputy Foreign Ministers Sergei Ryabkov and Mikhail Galuzin, alongside representatives of Russia's military General Staff, with Ryabkov attending for the first time, according to NV.ua.

Barrot said he did not know the details of what US President Donald Trump had in mind after Trump predicted, following a meeting with Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev, that a "major agreement" with Russia was close and could "cover all of Europe." Barrot said no agreement with consequences for Europe's security architecture could be designed, or even discussed, without European involvement. Separately, US presidential envoy Jared Kushner said Washington and several European states had discussed in Brussels the need for a broader European security architecture, an idea that has raised concern in Kyiv and European capitals about decisions being made without their direct involvement.